Guardians of Earth
by Red Stained Princess
Summary: A looming darkness approaches Earth, and the return of an old foe puts the whole universe at stake. The impending danger then forces a certain 15- year-old and knight on a quest to save the people they love. Will two who should have never met succeed in their mission? Or die trying? *The main story/sequel to Collision* Rated T for violence, blood and minor cursing.
1. Episode 1: So it Begins

**Update: 9/12/13 **

**After taking into account the events that are to happen in future chapters, I have decided to rename my story. Please do not get mad, its just a simple name change, nothing major. Now please enjoy the story and ignore all naming errors, I'm just too lazy to fix them. ^-^' Bye!**

* * *

Me: Hey look we're back and this time with the actual series!

Jessica: But I thought Collision was the series?!

Me: It is, but that's just the premiere episode of the real series spread out into many different chapters, THIS is the real series! Collision was just the name of the episode.

Jessica:... I'm still in it right?

Me: Yes, yes you are, and so is Meta Knight.

Meta Knight: Am I needed? I heard my name.

Me: Well Kind of, we're starting the REAL Collision series.

Meta Knight: Oh... Did I get a script?

Me: You didn't get it?

Meta Knight: No... *Gazes to Jessica, guessing she was in charge of giving it to him*

Jessica: O.O'

Me:* Face-palms* Okay while we look for the script Meta Knight never got please enjoy this episode and please comment and review if you can.

* * *

Episode 1: So it Begins...

The sounds of footsteps echoed through the forest. Leaves fluttered around us as the wind began to pick up. I peered from the hood of my cloak, and gazed upon the beautiful scene. I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't for the fact that everything I see could be gone by tomorrow.

My feet began to ache from exhaustion but I kept quite since it was a pain I had already grown accustomed to. I looked up to the sky, curious to see what time it was. The sun shined high above the trees, covering the land in it's warmth, from the sight I could see it was high noon. A strong gust suddenly whipped past us, making the cloak flutter, making the grey hood fall, exposing my long black hair.

"How long before we reach the road block?" came a voice.

"Not long, another few days on foot if we keep going I this direction" I answered, turning to the owner of the voice.

He was leaning against a tree, his dark blue cape and small stature shielding him from the wind. A pair of yellow eyes stared back at me from behind the metal mask of his.

"I think we should set up camp for now." he spoke softly.

"What, why? The suns still up, we still have a lot of ground to cover!" I argued." Are you feeling alright Meta Knight?"

"Yes I am, but I'm more concerned about you. We've been traveling none stop for days now, and I can see it's taking a toll on you." he explained.

"I'm fine, I can still keep going-" not watching where I was going, I tripped over my unresponsive legs and fell face first onto the ground. Damn it! I hate it when he's right.

"My point exactly." he mused.

"Fine..." I mumbled.

We walked a bit further until we made it to a small clearing, the trickle of a small stream could be heard in the distance.

"I'll set up the fire if you are willing to catch the fish." He called a he a watched me hurry away toward the stream.

"Okay!" I yelled, determined to put my non existent fishing skills to the test.

The steam was large but shallow, making all the fish that swam in it visible. I watched happily as the fish swam up stream for a while before attempting to create something to catch them with. I tried making a small net out of some tall grass but seeing as I knew nothing about weaving, the net kept breaking apart. After a few failed attempts, I settled on trying to create a small spear to try and stab them with.

I reached back into my grey cloak and felt around for a moment before my hand finally brushed against a metal hilt just behind my shoulder. Sword in hand, I took a large branch and started to sharpen it. When it was finally done, it's tip was almost as sharp as my blade. I walked over the the waters edge and knelled down, trying to keep my shadow from scaring away all the fish. I waited there silently for my unsuspecting prey to swim by. When one did, I would immediately plunge the spear into the water, missing miserably every time.

Hours went by like this, and still no fish. The sun was starting to set and I was starting to lose faith on making a catch today. But the thought of going back to Meta Knight without something to eat kept me going. Suddenly, there was movement in the murky water in front of me. I sent the spear flying into the river again, hoping this time I wouldn't miss. All was still for a heartbeat until large frantic splashes came from below the waters surface. I jumped into the water, to retrieve the spear and secure the catch.

I nearly started to weep in joy when I had finally caught something. The fish was nearly half the length of my entire arm, and to add to my luck, it was a fat one too. Though, the more I looked at the fish, the more I realized it wouldn't be enough to fully feed both me and Meta Knight.

"Well it's a good thing I don't eat as much as Kirby " I cried out cheerfully as I headed back to camp with the fish in my arms. The sun had already set when I reached the clearing I had last seen Meta Knight in. A large roaring fire laid in the middle. I nearly dropped the fish when I saw what was above the fire in shock.

Above the fire were not one but a dozen, already being cooked, fish.

"Ah, your back and I see you caught yourself a fish." He gestured toward the fire, trying to tell me to cook it. I looked at my fish half heartily as I put it over the flames disappointed by the fact my catch was meaning less after all.

"I didn't know you so good at fishing." I said sadly.

"To be honest I have to be..." He trailed of as he started to think of something else.

"Why is that?" I pressed, snapping him out of his trance.

"Huh? Oh... because back on Pop-star every time Tiff, Tuff, and the others would go camping, they would always end up starving when Kirby would accidentally eat all the food. Tiff, being so caring of her friends, would always give her catch to Kirby but one fish was never enough." He pause for a moment, remembering old times before continuing.

"I would always accompany them ever since Tiff told me about Kirby's eating problem, to make sure they would no longer have to worry about losing their lunch. This left me in charge of fishing for Kirby, as well as my own dinner." I looked at him in amazement, and then to the fish, which was a clear indication of his skill.

We soon found ourselves gorging on fish, filling our bellies for the first time in days. I laid down next to the fire and stared up to the stars. They showed brightly out in the woods, brighter than in the city, that's for sure. I could help but feel uneasy, despite having a full stomach. My mind wondered to my family.

Meta Knight looked down from his tree and glanced at me for a second before back to the stars. He too started to wonder what the others must be doing back home on planet Pop-star.

I soon found myself drifting off, soon allowing myself to fall into a deep slumber. I found myself back home, I was laying on my bed. I got up, walked outside into the living room, eager to find my family waiting for me in the living room. My brother was on his computer like always, my father on his bed and my mother cooking up dinner. They all turned away from what they were doing when they saw me run through the hall. A single tear fell down my cheek, I was happy, I was home.

They continued to stare at me for a few more seconds before someone finally moved. I looked to my mom, I smiled, how I had longed to hung her. I walked towards her, wanting to pull her into an embrace but then I stopped. Something wasn't right. She remain silent as I closed the gap between us. She was never this quite, the strange change in my mother caused me to keep a healthy distance as I looked at her once more, before turning to the others. They were still watching from where I had found them when I walked in. Their faces expressionless.

"Whats wrong... You guys didn't forget about me that easily, right?" I asked, concerned. They didn't respond. My brother then stood up without warning. I kept my eyes fixated on him, confused by this. I didn't notice my mom had gotten closer to me until I felt two hand on my throat. My eyes widen, shocked; I was being choked by my own mother!

"W-what are you doing!?" I shrieked, gasping for air as I was slowly lifted of the ground. Her lips began to curve up in a sickening smile. My father and brother were now on their feet and closing in as well. They held the same expression as mom. Then they started to take on different forms. Their skin started to change from their normal tan color to a dark purple, their eyes coming together to create one single eye. Their smile grew bigger until it stretched across their face, ear to ear.

I struggled against the monsters grip, but it was no use, it was too weak from the lack of oxygen to resist any longer. My vision started to fade as the second monster transformed it's hand into a blade getting ready to swing.

I sat up in a cold sweat. I was still trembling from the dream. I looked around to make sure that I was really back at the camp and not just in another dream. My heart started to regain it's normal rhythm after a moment. I looked up at the tree Meta Knight had slept in, hoping that he hadn't seen. He was still sound asleep. I sighed in relief, I didn't want to be reminded of this later on. I looked back up to the sky again, this time the stars were starting to disappear, the sun beginning to shine from over the horizon.

I continued to look up until as small thud from behind me brought my gaze back down. Meta Knight was now at my side.

We began to go on our way again, heading towards the east. Within a hour we found our way into a small city or town, from the signs, I learned it was called Batesville. The place was in shambles. Every building that once stood was either deserted or crushed. We walked past the devastation happy to see we haven't stumbled upon any corpses yet. We stopped in the middle of the street.

"Jessica, I want you to stay on your guard while exploring, there's a good chance the demons that did this are still lurking around." he cautioned. I nodded as I walked of, I need to find a market or at least the remains of one in order to stock upon supplies before we continued. I was usually the one to gather supplies while Meta Knight went to do, well, Meta Knight things I guess.

I found what I was looking for not to far from where I had begun my search. To my pleasure, I was happy to find it still in tack, with only just a knocked down wall in the entrance I carefully stepped over the rubble and found that the inside was worse that I thought it had been. All the shelves, carts, products and anything else inside was on the floor. Finding canned goods here was going to be tough.

I got down on my knees and began to dig, finding nothing but spoiled or useless items, only finding one or two good ones. I was about to move on when I spotted something form the corner of my eye. It was a jar of candy. I quickly opened the jar and popped a piece into my mouth, checking to see if they were still good. To my happiness they still were. I put the jar in my pack and got up, heading for the door when I heard a commotion outside. I ran out of the ruins to check out what was happening.

"Jessica get back!" He yelled as he fought off his attacker. I obeyed and remained where I was, but only from the fear that if I were to intervene he'll get hurt trying to protect me. The beast was somewhat of a humanoid-insect like creature, it had sharp pincers and teeth. I watched as Meta knight began to land hits on the creature where as it wasn't able to land a single one on him.

Then I felt a rumbling in the earth, the tremors coming directly from beneath me. I jumped out of the way just as a large beast emerged from the ground. It was as big as an elephant, with arms that resembled those of an ape. I quickly drew my sword, and stood my ground. Meta Knight was watching me from a distance, still too busy fighting the other monster to help. The monster lunged at me as I readied myself. I smiled slightly.

I had learned how to use a sword since the last time I fought, meaning I wasn't as helpless as before. The snake back home had gotten an upper hand on me by breaking my arm when it caught me off guard, but this time I was ready. I felt my stomach knot up when I pushed myself forward.

It's attacked missed me as I maneuvered around it. It's over-sized limbs, and weight made the monster's movements slow and clumsy giving me the advantage. It tried to recover from it's previous attack, and prepare itself to for a second strike only this time aiming especially for my legs. I swiftly avoided it by jumping into the air above it's head. Blood spilled everywhere as my blade ripped through the beast's throat, as it let out a muffled cry before falling at my feet. It's blood dripped from the tip of my blade, soon making a small pond where I stood. Meta Knight was out of sight again, having killed his opponent around the same time as me; making sure no other monsters had been drawn to the noise. I looked up to the clear skies above again, finding hard believe how messed the world had become in such a short while.

"This world really is going to hell..." I mumbled to myself, looking into the distance. I started to walk away, looking for a place to sit.

* * *

Me: Well that concludes the first episode of "Protectors of Peace" *sorry again for the name change* Sorry if it wasn't as long but the next one for sure will be better. :D

Jessica: It was a good chapter I guess...

Meta Knight: Why didn't I get many lines?

Me: Someone lost your script remember, we had to improvise

Meta Knight: ... *walks away*

Me: (-_-) did you find the script?

Jessica: No... *Looks away guiltily*

Me: You better...

*Meta Knight walks back into room*

Meta Knight: Found it

Me and Jessica: Where was it?!

Meta Knight: Alex had it. He is still considerably mad about not getting to be in the rest of the series...

Me: *Sigh* He can be such a pain

Jessica: Why are you complaining he's my brother!

Me: I based him on my brother in IRL remember, so I know how annoying he can be.

Jessica: Oh... um, okay then...


	2. Episode 2: An Unwelcomed Reception

Me: Okay time for episode two... Sorry for the delay but I promise to explain everything later! Now before we begin I want to make sure we all have our scripts. Jessica?

Jessica: Got it!

Me: Meta Knight?

Meta Knight: ... *Shows script*

Me: Okay, lets get this show on the road then!

Everyone except Meta Knight: Heck yeah!

* * *

Episode 2: An unwelcoming reception

I sat in the shade of a crumbling wall for what seemed like hours. My muscles still ached from the sudden battle with those two monsters from earlier. I leaned against the fallen structure, trying to enjoy the cold breeze swept through the town. My sword and backpack laid next to me.

Taking advantage of our small break, I opened my bag and started to rummage through it's contents, trying to find something to amuse myself with.

Meta Knight stood only a few yards away, on the roof of an old house that was also in ruins. His gaze fixated on something in the distance, but from what I could see, we were in no immediate danger for the moment. I returned my attention to my bag when I remembered to do something.

"Hey Meta Knight!" I called trying to get his attention. He turned in confusion.

"What is it Jessica?" He quickly looked around, worried that he had failed to detect a nearby monster.

"Catch." I threw the small jar into the air, his confusion only growing, as he caught the container. He examined it, looking for anything obvious before opening it. The container was full of many brightly colored candies, each in it's own unique shape. He studied the object carefully before answering.

"What is this?" He asked.

"What do you mean 'What is this?' It's candy, don't tell me you've already forgot about candy?"

"I am well aware that's it is candy, but what I'm trying to understand is why you would give this to me." He muttered.

"I just thought you would like it, with the world going to hell, you might as well try to enjoy the small things in life, you know." I answered.

He stood there quietly for a moment before sealing the jar and tossing it back in my direction. It landed right on lap as I looked up in surprise.

"What was that for?" I asked bewildered. I thought he liked candy, had they gone bad after all? "Maybe I should have just left them back in the market's ruins." I thought to myself.

"Hold on to that for me," I stared at him as he spoke. "It's better if you hold on to them." Still confused, I simply nodded in agreement as I put the container back in my backpack. We stayed there motionless before he finally decided to jump off his ledge.

"It's time to go." he spoke, waiting for me to follow. I slowly got to my feet as I started to gather my belongings. This only took a minute seeing as I had very little to begin with. My sword and small pack being the only items I had. I nodded, signaling to him to continue.

It was still around mid afternoon, which meant we still had many more hours before it started to get dark. Now that we were in the middle of monster country, traveling by night was the last thing we wanted to do. We walked for an hour before we came remotely close to the edge of town. For a town, I had to admit, it was surprisingly large.

The outskirts of Batesville didn't have much other than small houses spread throughout the country side with just a few warehouses thrown into the mix. By now the the suns heat was really starting to get to me, but like always I shrugged it off. I didn't even want to ask how Meta Knight was managing with all this.

"Do you want to rest?" He suddenly asked. I looked to him in surprise, was it really that obvious? I tried to play it off.

"No, no, I'm just fine" I lied. Meta Knight was never one to risk the health of any of his comrades, I knew this. It looked like he would press the subject but he hesitated before he continued to walk. It wouldn't be long before we were back in the cold confines of the woods. I really looked forward to that, at this point it was the only thing that kept me going through the heat.

We came to a complete stop when we reached a section in Batesville that was completely filled with warehouses. To be honest, places like these were never my favorite, seeing as something bad always happens when around them. Hence my knowledge of horror movies. I looked around, taking in the surroundings. To my amazement, most of them were still in tacked, compared to the rest of the place that looked like it was hit with a tornado or mega earthquake.

"Jessica stay here," he called just within earshot as he rushed off somewhere. I wanted to follow after him, but I knew better. If he ran into an trouble, I'd end up being a burden on him. I continued to look around. The more time I stayed near these buildings the more uneasy I became. It was like something was telling me to leave, but I ignored it, thinking it was more of a fear that some random serial killer from the movies was going to jump out of no where.

Minutes passed as I continued to wait for Meta Knight to return. Usually he was back by now whenever he would run of on his own. I was about to leave when suddenly I felt something come from behind me.

I managed to dodge as I turned to meet my attacker. There stood a tall blacked haired man, who, guessing by his looks was in his mid thirties. Though his clothes were filthy and torn, but he seemed to be in moderately good health despite the situation. He held a metal baseball bat, his arms tense, ready to swing when ready. My hand reached for my katana when a chain came flying past, coiling around my hand before I could grasp it. A second man had appeared from the building's shadows and had somehow managed to sneak up on me.

He looked almost the same as the first, only younger and seemingly stronger with brown hair. The chain started to wrap tighter around my wrist as more people started to appear. Out of all the days someone could pick to jump me, it had to be today.

"What do these bastards want," I muttered to myself.

I stood my ground, eyeing them carefully. I had to assess the situation before I made any sudden movements, one miscalculation here could end up with me seriously injuring myself.

"Hey would you looky here, we got ourselfs a girl!" one called. I shot an angry glance at him as the rest of the group started to talk among themselves.

"Think she's from that group of survivors?"

"Might be,"

"She seems pretty weak to be hanging around here on her own!" called another. Others started to mock me as well, snickering in the back while the other continued to make sly jokes. The tallest of the group then walked up to the front of the crowd.

"Shut up!" The speaker ordered as he turned his back to me, addressing his followers. " You can do whatever you want to her after we get what we want. Now we just have to wait for her little friend to come to her rescue." He smirked. I glared at them, so that was their plan? Hold me hostage until they got some sort of ransom? Well sadly for them, I wasn't going to let them get away with this without a fight.

"Grab the girl and let get out of here already!" Called the man. From the way he talked , I would presume he's the leader. The man with the chain started to come closer, trying to pull me along as he walked. Everyone stopped when they saw I wasn't following. I wrapped the chain tighter around my hand as I suddenly ran toward him, my advance catching him of guard, giving me the opening I wanted as I kneed him in the face. He collapsed onto the ground instantly from the pain. I freed my hand as I tried to reach for the sword under my cloak before stopping myself.

"They're still human Jessica," I thought to myself. "you can't kill them, no matter how messed up they may seem." My hand lingered at the sword's hilt for a heartbeat before lowering it. I had outraged the men when they witnessed me bring down one of their members. They were now furiously swinging the weapons in their hands. I started to back away. Even if my strength out ranked them, they still held the advantage in numbers.

They came at me with such fierceness. Bats and crowbars swung, aimed at my head, only to meet air as I ducked below them. I dropped, sweeping one of my attackers of his feet, sending him crashing into one his neighbors. Quickly recovering, I kicked up, slamming my foot into another one my opponent's face. I looked around, three people laid on the floor out cold. "Three down, about nine to go." I thought warily.

I was still tired from my previous fight with the monster, and having walked a hour non-stop, my body wasn't doing so well. My muscles began to protest as I readied myself for another attack.

"Come on, don't tell me you wimps are just going to stand there and let this stupid bitch walk all over you!" cried their leader. "Show some backbone!" This time they all came charging in at the same time. I lunged out of the way as one tried to knock me out with a blow to my head, only to miss miserably and strike someone else in the shoulder.

A bat then struck me in my chest, hurling me into a wall. I gasped in pain, as I slowly staggered to my feet.

"At this rate, I won't be able to hold out much longer before my body gives out on me!" I thought. I started to breath heavily, I had to think of something fast. Blood started to trickle down from a cut on my temple.

"Well, if I'm going down, might a well take some of them down with me," I muttered to myself. I hurled myself through the mob, mustering all the strength I had. I swiftly dodged their attacks as I teared through them. They stared in shock when they saw I was quickly closing the gap between me and the ring leader. My fist burst forth, colliding with the man's face. I began to teeter from the force of my attack, and just like the others he staggered to one side before finally collapsing.

Trying to defend their pride and master, the lackies rushed towards me again. This time I didn't try to escape, I had used up all available strength on taking out just a hand full. I watched as they came closer, when I saw another figure from the corner of my eye.

A crescent shaped burst of energy came crashing past, stopping the incoming horde in their tracks. A masked Knight glided through the air, landing just a few feet in front of me. I was relieved, I had been wondering where he had disappeared to.

"What took you so long? I was beginning to think you had abandoned me." I said jokingly. He didn't turn when he answered, keeping an eye on the enemy.

"My apologies for leaving you here alone, I did not expect for you to get ambushed while I was away." He said solemnly. He began to think about the reason he had left and decided that if he had stayed, this could have all be avoided.

*Meta Knight's Flashback*

I rushed past Jessica as I leaped across the roof tops. I jumped down onto an empty road between the warehouses. I looked around, scanning the area.

"Could I have been mistaken?" I thought to myself," No, I could have sworn I saw someone here a few minutes ago."

I continued to look around when I hear a noise come from one of the run down buildings to my left. I walked towards the sound as I stepped into the building. It was dark but I could just make out the shape of a human as he fumbled around with a pile of items. I was about to speak when I heard a set of footsteps coming closer from when I had just come from. I jumped onto one of the nearby support beams, crouching, so that they would not see me in the shadows.

A human with slightly blonde hair and torn clothing came forth and addressed the human that had been toying with a bat.

"What are you doing here? Your suppose to be with the others!"

"I'm sorry! But I forgot my bat when I ran outside with everyone else!" He wined. "And besides, why do we need so many of us to go? She's just a weak teenage girl, I bet Taylor could even take her!"

"Teenage girl? Who? And why." I thought. I listened in carefully, what could these people be plotting.

"Boss's orders, so I suggest you come too, before he gets mad. He'd have you hanged for not doing what he said."

"Why do we need the girl again?"

"We need her to get that weird weapon that guy we saw earlier had. You know the short one who took down the monster this morning."

"Right, right. So the girls going to be our, what, hostage?"

"Yes."

My eyes widened when I finally understood what was going on. The short character they had seen fight this morning was me, and the teenage girl they were after was...

"Jessica!" I nearly yelled from my realization, as I quickly escaped the building from a small opening in the roof. I had to hurry, from what I could tell, Jessica could be in danger as we speak.

Jumping over the roof tops again, I hurriedly made my way back to where I had left her. I arrived just as I saw the battered Jessica throw a punch into one of her assailant's faces, making him stumble as he fell to the floor. She was panting from exhaustion. She was already tired from the walk when we arrived here, fighting was the last thing she needed. The gang was already sprinting towards her to avenge, what seemed to be their leader. I had to act fast.

I emerged from the shadows, drawing Galaxia from its sheath. A surge of energy erupted as the blade started to take it's form. Without missing a beat, I concentrated my energy into the blade, as I released it in a single strike, sending the crescent beam crashing forth.

The attack stopped the advancing mob in their tracks, their expressions were a mix of shock and fear . With one swift motion I was in front of Jessica, shielding her from her attackers. She looked down at me warily as she smiled at me. Blood dripped down from her forehead as she watched.

"Just in time..." I thought.

*End of Meta Knight's flashback*

I watched silently as Meta Knight took a defensive stance before me,but I was too weak to argue. The remaining gang members stood their grounds but none dared to proceed any further. I laughed silently at this, I guess they really were spineless without their leader.

"Help me!"

All our heads snapped up in surprise as another gang member came charging through the street. He was around the same age as me, with dark brown hair and and pale blue eyes, which were wide from fear. Too afraid of whatever he was running from, he tripped on his own two feet,and fell face flat onto the pavement. He scrambled to get up as he ran to his allies.

"Please! Someone help me!" He screamed.

The buildings behind him suddenly gave way, leaving a massive cloud of debris behind. Their eyes widened as a growl could be heard from within. We stared in horror and surprise as the smoke began to clear, revealing a what looked to be a massive dog.

It stood on it's hind legs in the center of the wreckage, lashing it's tail from side to side. It's limbs were larger than it's torso, giving more emphasis on it's muscular upper body. It was covered from head to toe by matted grey fur. Razor sharp teeth peaked out from it's lips as it pulled them back in a snarl. Familiar blood red eyes met our shocked expressions.

It continued to stalk towards the cowering teen it had been chasing moments before. It licked it's lips hungrily, making the group swallow in fear. Few started to back away, only to freeze when the beast would stop to glare at them. They were stuck.

I grabbed for my katana when Meta Knight stopped me.

"What are you doing?" He ask sternly, already guessing my answer.

"What does it look like, I'm going to help these idiots." I disputed.

"You're injured, fighting in your condition would put you in even greater risk." He said rationally.

I ignored him as I took out my sword, just because these bastards were bad guys didn't mean I was just going to stand by and allow them to get mauled. It's a fate even they didn't deserve, despite everything they did. Small streams of blood still continued to trickle down my face from the wound on my head.

The dog roared, turning our attentions back to it. It quicken it's pace as it prepared to lunge itself at them. I ran forward, wanting to strike it down while it was still focused on them. I had only taken one step when my vision blurred and my body suddenly swayed to one side. My sword embedded itself into the earth, as I tried to support my weight with it. "Are my injuries really that bad?" I asked myself as I gasped in pain.

A cry in the distance made me look up from the ground, I searched the crowd for anyone missing, fearing that the beast had already claimed it's first meal. In the center of the street, stood two figure, one was the dog, the other was Meta Knight. Both stood motionless. It's red eyes were still fixated on it's target, while Meta Knight stood there with Galaxia in his hand. He stayed there for a moment before putting Galaxia back in it's pouch, and wrapping himself in his cape like he always does before he walked away.

The beast remained glued to where is was before it bursted into a cloud of smoke. The gang members that had tried to kidnap me minutes before gazed in awe, as their savior walked away. Second later they were cheering for him.

Meta Knight walked back to where I had watched the whole thing take place. I straightened myself out again, finally managing to stand up straight without wincing in pain. I smiled at him, happy that everything turned out alright in the end. Footsteps from behind Meta Knight made us turn again, this time it was the man who I had knocked out before the monster had attacked.

He seemed nervous in his approach, but continued anyway. Three other people followed behind, as they stopped just feet from us. We tensed up again, thinking that even after being saved, they still wanted to go through with their plan. Instead, the leader threw himself onto the floor, kneeling before us. The three others looked at him in shocked.

"Thank you for saving us! We are deeply sorry for trying to hurt you before!" He began. The three exchanged a confused glance before copying him.

"We beg for forgiveness!" begged the others.

I stared in astonishment. I their sudden change in attitude was almost too go to be true, but then again Meta Knight just save their sorry butts. The leader suddenly got up and took my hand in his, he looked at me with eyes full of sincerity.

"Please! We're sorry for hurting you! Forgive us!" I looked at him, more freaked out than scared. I smiled nervously as I choked out a response.

"O-okay?" I said. His eyes softened in relief.

"Oscar, I think we should take them back to our base so the girl can get some rest." said the teenage boy. He still seemed spooked from his encounter with the dog beast.

"Agreed," said their leader with a nod. "How about it?" he asked me.

I glanced nervously to Meta Knight, hoping he'd help me out but he simply nodded in agreement with Oscar. I was shocked by this. Since Meta Knight thought there was nothing wrong with it, I decided to agree to it as well.

The boy helped walk me back to where Meta Knight had first heard of their plans. Seeing as he already knew where we were heading, he took the lead along with Oscar himself. I looked at him, wondering how a someone who looked so kind would end up working with these people.

"I know what your thinking." his sudden remake startling me.

"Then tell me what I'm thinking about?"

"How someone like me can be working for them." he said calmly. I looked at him in shock, but I waited for him to answer.

"One doesn't really have a choice when things like this happen. Right when the town was destroyed, I was force to join, for my own protection. You know, strength in numbers." He glared at Oscar in the front of the group. "You know he's just doing this to get on your friends good side."

"I suspected as much... He's made you do thing your not proud of, hasn't he?" I asked.

"Yes." he answered coldly. I could sense the all the hate he had for him as he answered.

We remained quite the rest of the way until we stopped in front of another warehouse. It was in great condition compared to the rest with everything tack other than a small hole in the roof and a broken window. When we walked in it was surprisingly homey, with a few tables and sofas, along with a few coolers and some other household items. The boy helped me to one of the sofas as he was forced to walk away. The others helped all the injured to seats as well.

Oscar dragged a chair from across the room and sat in front of me as another member brought bandages and a few ointments and laid them out in front of me. He motioned to the items, telling me to use them if I liked. I gave him a grateful nod, as I started to apply a few of them to my head wound, which only just stopped bleeding. Though I didn't have many cuts or scrapes, the pain from my bruises on my ribs were what was causing me the most discomfort. As I started to work on my bruised ribs, man from across the room shot me an apologetic look, seeing as he was the one who had sent me flying into the wall, giving me this injury.

Meta Knight was not far from where I sat, he was watching precariously from one of the support beams in the building. He seemed calmer than before, it seemed that felt he could trust these humans. Maybe they really are sorry.

"Feeling better?" I turned back to Oscar who was eyeing me nervously, worried that I would get at mad at him for asking the obvious.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for the medicine." I looked at the containers. It seemed that they were the ones who had looted most of the stores when chaos broke out a few days ago.

"Are you one of the survivors from that group to the east of here?" He suddenly asked. I shook my head in response. "Other survivors?" I thought.

"There are others?" I asked curiously, I wanted to know more. He gulped before answering.

"Yes, a group of people, ranging from children to the elderly. We constantly fight them for the resources the town has to offer..." He shot a glance at Meta Knight before lowering his gaze to the floor, ashamed of his group actions.

"I guess instead of fighting or threatening them, we should be working together?" He asked sadly. I nodded.

He got up from his chair and walked away quietly, leaving me alone with a few other people, who were also recovering from the beating I gave them, while Meta Knight continued to watch us. He turned he back to us after a while, turning his attention to the hole in the roof, casting his stare to the sky above. The sun would soon be setting, meaning it would be dark again.

I allowed myself to rest a while longer before getting up. Some stared as I did, trying to guess what I was doing. I was happy to see that the pain had finally gone, leaving me with nothing but a sore bruise along my ribs. My sense of balance seemed to have return as well. Meta Knight seeing that I was better, jumped down from his perch beside me. Oscar, who had just stood up as well, followed as to the entrance as we turned to say our farewells.

"Try not to get chased by anymore monsters okay," I said sarcastically to the teen as he said his good-bye. He smiled.

"Oh, well make sure he doesn't," answered Oscar. "And we promise to help other survivors from now on. During times like this, we should be working together to survive." He said with a sure smile.

"Good." I looked at him, concerned that his change in opinion might not last long after we leave. Meta Knight, who was watching from his small crowd of admirers, nodded his approval. Soon the warehouse was out of our sites, as we continued down the path we had started on, before this whole incident.

"I hope we don't run into other people like Oscar..." I thought to myself. My mind wondered again to the teen I had spoken with.

"You seem to be in higher spirits despite today's occurrences," Meta Knight's sudden opinion snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Y-yeah." I shuddered, kind of taken aback by his response. He continued to walk, even when I stopped for a moment to look back at the fading town that started to disappear in the distance. I stared at the now quite town, silently hoping that our new "friends" don't run into any trouble too soon. I continued to walk as I took one last glance at the town, now orange in color from the setting sun.

"I wonder if we'll run into the other survivors later on."

* * *

Me: Well that concludes another episode of "Protectors of Peace" Sorry again for the delay, some crazy stuff has been happening lately!

Jessica: Yeah, first Vanessa is assigned, like, five projects at the same time, all due on the same day. Then her best friend is sent to the hospital for emergency surgery, and then our internet goes out completely. So most of you won't see this episode until a week after it's done.

Me: YOU JUST USED MY REAL NAME! REALLY! WHAT THE HEY!

Jessica: Sorry!

Meta Knight: While those two settle down, I am here to confirm that what Jessica said was true, but exaggerated a bit, it was two projects not five.

*Jessica and me fighting in the background*

Meta Knight: *Sigh* Hope you enjoyed the episode, and hopefully we shall be able to continue updating without a any other problems after this.

*walks away silently, leaving Jessica and I fighting in the background as the fade-out appears*


	3. Episode 3: Danger in Every Corner

**Me**: Okay, we're back, and this time with the third episode. I wrote this during me our sudden loss of internet so I really won't know what you guys think of the last episode until after this one.

**Jessica**: Hey, Vanessa? Sorry about using your name...

**Me**: You just used it- you know what forget it, it was about time they knew. *Sigh*

**Meta Knight**: While those two continue to settle their differences, please direct your attention back to the screen. Feel free to review and comment below.

*Disappears again, leaving Jessica and me alone as the screen fades to black*

* * *

**Episode 3: Danger at Every Corner**

We found ourselves back among the tree as we traveled through the forest again. We had to go through a lot of farmland and plains before we could reached this place. I was surprised that there was even this many trees left in the world, seeing as we humans completely decimated these woodland areas after many years.

The sun was now slowly setting over the horizon. It's color shifted from it's deep orange- reddish color to a soft red color. Darkness soon started to engulf the forest as we traveled. A few rabbits scampered by as we continued our walk, followed by a few birds who began to sing the last songs of the day.

It didn't look like there were any monsters in the area, seeing as the inhabitants were still living in peace. Hopefully this night would be peaceful as well. My mind wondered back to all the trouble we had managed to get into in one day. We got attacked by a duo of beasts, I almost got kidnapped, and got attacked again by another monster during my rescue. And after all that, I'm surprised that I'm still standing. Then, most shocking of all, after saving my kidnappers, they suddenly had a change in heart and helped treat the wounds they themselves inflicted on me. I was beginning to wonder if they were okay, especially to the brown haired boy, seeing as the town they resided in was infested with those monsters.

I nearly tripped over Meta Knight when I failed to realize he had stopped. He began walking in a different direction from which we were traveling, leaving me confused. He was out of my sight before I knew it. I stayed where I was until a orange glow began to shine through the shadows of the darkening forest. Without another moments notice, I began to follow after him.

He stood again in the middle of another small clearing within the trees, a small fire burned brightly in front of him. Guessing from the fire, it looked like it was about time to set up camp for the night before we continued any further. He stayed knelt over the flames as if he was cooking something. Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to see what it was. I nearly yelled in surprised when I saw he was cooking fish again.

"Where on earth did he get those fish!" I wondered in shock. I threw my back pack on the floor and searched for the fish he had giving me to carry the day before. My shock only grew when I saw that the fish I was carrying were gone. "When did he go through in my bag!" I gasped in shock.

I crouched down next to him and began to eye him suspiciously. He took no notice of my staring and kept his focus on the fish, making sure they didn't burn. I sighed as I took my belongings and tossed them down at the base of a nearby tree. Meta Knight stayed by the fire, while to turned my attention to the darkening sky. A few stars were already shining brightly from the heavens above. A refreshing breeze passed through the camp, helping to relax my nerves from today.

I had already fallen asleep when Meta Knight woke me up so I could eat my share of the food. When I reached the fire, two out of the four fish were already gone, making me notice that the knight had already eaten in my sleep. I ate my fish happily before returning to the tree I had nearly fallen asleep under, moments ago. Meta Knight was already dozing off on one of the branches above. Only looking down warily at me before finally falling asleep. I followed not long after.

My dream for once weren't plagued with monsters and demons, but instead happy and peaceful memories from the past. I remembered how Meta Knight first agreed to stay with us, and how he and my brother first got along. I laughed in my sleep as I remembered all the arguments they got into, and all the pranks my brother played on him. Meta Knight, being a knight would never once think of hurting my brother, no matter what the prank was, which is why I could be the one to punish him afterwards just so Meta Knight could get some form of payback.

The meanest prank he played on him was hiding his mask while Meta Knight was in the shower, using his restroom deli-ma to his advantage. The puffball spent hours looking for the mask, leaving the house a mess in his wake while looking for it. He was planning to clean up the house before we returned from our picnic to be caught off guard by my early arrival. I had only come back because Alex had been bragging about his prank on Meta Knight and decided that enough was enough.

When I came back the house was a mess, and found myself chasing after the mask-less knight the whole day, trying to help him only to get dragged outside the apartment and be locked out. Forcing me to climb two stories to get in through my balcony. Those really were the good times...

My eyes fluttered open just as a loud rustle sounded from the undergrowth. Meta Knight, opening one tired eye from behind his mask, followed my gaze to where the sound originated from. A small grey puff came rolling out of the bush, it looked very much like a stuffed animal you see in the stores. Our eyes met for a brief moment before I tried getting up. The masked warrior stayed where he laid, only moving slightly to get a better view of the strange creature.

The puff was about the size of a softball, and was covered in lush grey fur. It's soft yellow eyes seemingly examining us. It seemed almost too cute to be a monster but I knew better than to trust appearances. Our eyes met for another brief second as it's eyes flashed a sinister look. It's cute face suddenly distorted as a large mouth, which wasn't there before, began to spread across it in a smile.

I was already on my feet while Meta Knight continued to watch from his resting place. Seeing as this beast was smaller than the rest, we both decided that I'd be able to handle it alone. The puff, somehow hovering above the ground, flew towards me, it's tiny teeth bared in snarl. Having expected this, I threw my blade into it's path, allowing the small creature to run right through it.

The puff flew by, wide eyed in disbelief on how easily it had been taken down as it disappeared into a puff of smoke. Feeling proud of myself, I started to put my sword away again, when another rustle from the bushes caught my attention. Meta Knight having realized a miscalculation on his part, jumped off his branch. With a bright flash of yellow lighting, Galaxia was then in his hand. One by one, pairs of red eyes began to appear from within the shadows of the trees.

"One, two, three... five... eleven." I counted silently. The numbers kept rising quicker than I could keep track of, making me lose count long after twenty. A drop of sweat started to run down my forehead as I glanced cautiously around at the massive number of enemies that surrounded us.

"Great, right after a long day of fighting, we walk right into an ambush..." I muttered in my head. Waiting for us to make the first move, the eyes remained where they were until one of them finally decided to take action into it's own claws. It lunged right toward Meta Knight who swiftly destroyed it with a single blow. The others then started to follow in it's foot-steps as the swarm pushed forward.

The sound of clashing swords and shrieks soon filled the forest. We started to kill them off one by one, but it seemed like there was no end to them. Their large numbers were starting to overpower us.

I swung my sword furiously as the beasts came rushing at us. One tried to jump onto my back when I quickly spawn around and lashed back at it. Another leaped at my legs, hoping to catch me off guard. Seeing its attempts to knock me down, I back-flipped into the air, chopping it in half as I landed behind it. A sharp pain shot up from a small area just below my ribs, causing my to flinch after the motion before diverting my attention back to the battle at hand.

The monsters we were fighting were way different from the puff that had first appeared in the clearing. The small teeth the puff had was nothing compared to the fangs and dangerous appendages they processed.

I peered to my left and caught of glimpse Meta Knight ripping his way through the horde attacking him. Sword beams flew everywhere, obliterating all that was in their way. To our dismay the amount taken down by Meta Knight's attacks didn't leave much of a dent in their numbers. I watched helplessly from where I was fighting as they began to push him closer to the edge of the clearing. It seemed that most of the monsters were setting their sights on him instead of me.

The distance between us kept growing until I couldn't see the knight within the mob anymore. I desperately wanted to try and regroup with him so that we could somehow figure out a plan to fend off these things but the idea was starting to become more and more hopeless.

Many cries echoed throughout the clearing as more monsters began to lunge towards me again. I deflected most of their attacks to the best of my ability, receiving multiple cuts from their claws. My cloak was now starting to become stained in my own blood mixed with their's. Exhaustion from the previous day was beginning to set in again, making my attacks sloppy and more desperate as time dragged on.

A set of claws raked themselves into my back, making me to stumble forward while trying to avoid the teeth of a second attacker. The claws belonged to feline which greatly resembled one of the beasts Meta Knight had once battled long ago. I threw myself to one side as the Wolf-wrath like cat tried to sink its claws into me once more. It pounced once more, paws outstretched, hitting the flat part of the blade, knocking it out of my hands.

The sword flew across the clearing, digging itself into the ground five feet away. I stood there wide eyed as I was left with no means of defending myself. Their eyes began to glow as they realized that victory was now in their grasp. I continued to jump out of the way of the monsters as they kept attacking me, as I struggled to reach my sword but found my path cut off.

The beast came at me again, this time mustering all the strength it had for a final attack. I began to step aside when a random monster latched onto my leg, keeping me in the cats path. I managed to kick the beast off as the cats enormous jaws was only inches from my face. Terror filled my body as my mind realized I could no longer dodge its attack.I wanted to close my eyes and prepare myself for the worst, but utter terror prevented me from doing so, forcing me to watch as my doom came closer.

The cat then stopped in its tracks as let out a painful yelp out of nowhere, drawing the attention of all the monsters nearby in surprise and shock. I starred in confusion as I tried to comprehend what had just happened when I looked down at the monster's chest. A large grey blade stuck out from it, exactly from where its heart would be. The cat's eyes went blank as it slid off the blade falling to the ground with a loud "thud" before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

A black haired boy about my age stood in front of me with a worn out sword in his hand. He had deep blue eyes and fairly tanned skin. He wore a royal purple long shelved button shirt and a pair of faded, dark grey jeans. There were many small tatters on his pants but it only made the pants suit his being even more. He looked down and smiled at me, amused by my shock and confusion.

"Sup..."

* * *

**Me:** Sorry, had a bit of a mental block for a moment there... Plus I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have wanted on it. I just took the last of my finals this week.

*Jessica come running into room*

**Jessica:** Vanessa! why didn't you tell me have a new character?!

**Me:** *annoyed* I didn't think I had to tell you...

**Jessica:** But I'm one of the main characters! *she complained, suddenly pulling on the new character's cheek*

**?**: Hey, come on quit it! I just got here!

**Meta Knight:** Please excuse Jessica's rude behavior, she is usually not like this...

**Me:** *Sigh* I think she got into the soda stash again... Oh well hope you enjoyed this episode and don't forget to review and comment below. I'd love some feedback!

*Me and Meta Knight wave good bye, while Jessica continues to annoy ? as the fade out appears*


	4. Episode 4: New Faces

**Jessica**: Can we skip the intro please? I want to find out more about Mr.? over there!

**Me**: Sorry Jessica but no...

**Meta Knight**: I guess once couldn't hurt.

**Me**: Not you too!

**?**: Can we just get back to the story?

**Me**: Fine!

* * *

Episode 4: New faces

"Sup..."

I continued to stare at him in awe, as he bent over and offered me a hand. The monsters that had been attacking me moments before were also staring in shock, trying hard to understand what had happened. After a second's hesitation I took his hand gratefully, as he helped me to my feet.

I tried to smile at his kindness despite us being in the middle of a battle. Quick movement from behind him caused me to look away, my eyes widening as they spotted a small monster coming from behind. He kept his gaze on me, I couldn't tell if he had't notice the incoming danger or simply... ignored it. The beast came closer every second and he still didn't bother to turn around. I was starting to panic within my head, if I still had my sword I would have gladly pushed him out of the way and cut it down, but without it all I can do is watch.

I watched as the fangs came within inches from his head, his eyes suddenly darting from me to the side as if trying to get a good look at the creature without turning around. His smile widened as a small but precise arrow came zooming past and hit the beast in the head. He closed his eyes for a moment before speaking.

"How much longer were you planning to make me wait before you shot that thing?" He called to the woods behind him.

"Long enough to snap you out of your little trance," replied a feminine voice.

"Oh leave him alone Kayla, you know how he is. Besides we got work to do," replied another as two girls walked into the clearing, bearing swords much like mine. I looked the bow and discarded arrows behind them. They looked to the boy for a second, nodding, before they darted into the crowd just behind us, their weapons at hand.

"Um... Little help!" cried a voice just to my left. I turned to see a silver haired girl trying hard to fight of a small swarm, and was failing. A second sword appeared, deflecting all of the swarms attacks, as a guy with short tangled, red hair appeared at her side.

"Can't you do anything?!" He yelled harshly, making the girl flinch before putting her shame aside and returned her attention back to the fight. The black haired teen in front me, having seen all his friends finally arrive, drew his weapon again and rushed in after them. It wasn't long after they began fighting that the swarm's numbers began to dramatically shrink, causing the survivors to flee. I continued to watch in amazement at the sudden turn of events, never having imagined an outcome like this.

They began to regroup as the monsters started to leave the clearing entirely, leaving the six of us alone. They walked towards me, swords sheathed, slightly tired from the fight. The guy who saved me was the first to speak.

"You okay, you seem a little beaten up?" he commented, looking down at my blood stained cloak.

"Yeah..." I said nervously, still a little taken back from his being here.

"What are you doing here?" The red head asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at me.

"I came here with a friend... and it's none of your business," I muttered at his rudeness.

"Shut up Hardwin..." warned my savior.

"Don't tell me what to do Frederik!" He snapped, taking a step closer so he was literally in Frederik's face. Ignoring their fight, a brown haired girl walked up behind me and examined my back.

"Pretty nasty wound you got there..." She said quietly, her stare resting on the wound the Wolf-wrath like cat had left on it.

"Don't worry, its nothing." To be honest it didn't really hurt besides the bleeding. I started to look around the clearing, remembering that someone was still missing from the group.

I found it disturbing that Meta Knight still hadn't returned. My heart started to sink as horrible thoughts of what might have happened to him started to pop up in my head.

"What your name?" I heard Frederik ask me, his question snapping me out of my silent panic.

"Jessica." I said, turning to him. He smiled.

"That's a nice name..." He mused happily, repeating it just for the sake of saying it. His smile dropped almost instantly as he finished, eyes fixated on something behind me.

"Looks like we missed one," He said cautiously, as he put his hands on my shoulders as if to keep me from accidentally backing into whatever was behind me. I turned, almost sighing in relief when I saw it was Meta Knight, but nobody else shared in my ease. Fredeirk, still thinking it was an enemy, pushed me out of his way as he sprang forward. Meta Knight still wary from all the fightin, slowly pulled out his sword in defense. I watched in horror as he ran towards him when I noticed something not to far form me.

Meta Knight braced himself as he came closer. Frederik was still overly confident, was thinking that he could take this one down without any help from the rest. He sword clashed with another as he tried hard to push the blade back and failed. He looked up, shocked to see it wasn't the golden blade Meta Knight bared.

"What are you doing! There's still one left!" He yelled, thinking that I hadn't seen Meta Knight behind me.

"No there isn't!" I spat, "He's not one of them, and I'm sure as HELL I won't let you go near him either!" A look of confusion crossed both Meta Knight and Frederik's face. He looked back to the knight and then to me before finally backing away angrily. Meta Knight stared at the group of humans he had never seen when he saw the huge claw marks that were on my back.

"Jessica, are you injured?" He asked worried. I gave him a wary smile.

"Na, just small scratch," I lied, repeating what I had told the brunette not long ago.

"Your friend I presume?" Asked black haired girl, Kayla I think her name was, raising a eyebrow. I nodded.

Frederik kept eyeing Meta Knight, still not sure whether he trusted my judgement, but then gave up and walked up to him, putting away his sword.

"Sorry..." He murmured softly.

"I accept the apology." He answered.

"We better get going," Interrupted the silvered haired girl, looking to the sky. "The others will be worried about where we went by now." She turned to the rest for her friends, who nodded in agreement. They all started to turn away when she turned around again, facing us.

"You should come with us, its a lot better than staying here." she said, motioning for us to follow. Meta Knight and I turned to each other, both of us thinking the same question before we finally following after them.

We walked in silence for about twenty minutes before I worked up the courage to ask where we were going.

"We're heading just a bit further east, to a refugee camp you could say." The silver haired girl said pointing in the direction we were heading. I looked the other teens who were walking slightly ahead of us. They all seemed to be scanning the forest carefully as we traveled, all but Frederik who I would see glance in my direction every few minutes or so .

"This must be a pretty dangerous place if they're all so careful," I thought to myself. Me and Meta Knight walked calmly compared to them; we never had to scan that hard when traveling since Meta Knight could always sense when there was a monster nearby thanks to heighten senses he possessed. The only time I had ever seen them fail was today during the ambush, though I should have expected as much since we both kind of collapsed from exhaustion before the attack.

Soon voices could be heard up ahead, and the trees began to thin. The group hurried away towards the voices, leaving Meta Knight and me tailing behind. We walked into a large opening, where many different types of tents or make-shift quarters were scattered everywhere. Small children ran by, while their mothers watched them from a distance.

I spotted Frederik and his group waiting for us in front of a large shelter. The tent was only a few inches taller than the tallest one of us in the group, and held the same color scheme military tents had, with it's dark green pigment. Frederik went inside first before calling for me and Meta Knight to come in second.

The inside was surprisingly big compared to the impression given off by it's exterior. In the center was a small table, surrounded by many chairs. It almost resembled the dining room we have back home. We all took our seats next to each other, each group sitting on their own side of the table.

"So before we suddenly skip to anything and forget, how about we introduce ourselves?" smiled Kayla. She had jet black hair, similar to mine, but shorter as she wore it in a spiky pony-tail rather than leaving it down. Her brown eyes flickered to the people sitting beside her.

"I'm Kayla." She said pointing to herself and then to the girl at her side. " Natalie," The brown haired girl with hazel eyes waved in our direction. Frederick was next up.

"I'm Frederick, but you already know me." He flashed a sly smile. Kayla ignoring his comment moved on.

"Amberlin," The silver head who had been struggling to fight the monsters back in the clearing gave a shy smile before looking away, remembering what had happened in the woods. Her blue eyes darting back to the table.

"And lastly, Hardwin..." He grunted, not bothering to look at us when his name was called. Almost the whole group sighed at his response.

"Well I'm Jessica, and over here we have..." I began and waited for Meta Knight to fill in the rest.

"Meta Knight, it's a pleasure to meet you all." He answered. I looked to the group, and scanned for any reaction in their eyes, but there was none. "Wow someone had an unhappy childhood," I thought, remembering what a friend had said to me when he heard I never played the Kirby games when I was little.

"Now that we got the names out of the way, can we now ask why the heck you guys were out in the woods?" Hardwin ask coldly. The others glared back at him for his attitude but let it pass since they too wanted to know the answer. I was a bit uneasy in my seat as I felt their glares on my skin. Should I tell them the truth, or should make something up? From the corner of my eye I saw Meta Knight nod at me, telling me to speak the truth. I sighed, not knowing where to begin.

"We're here to stop the monsters invading our planet" I began. They raise their eyebrows in surprise and confusion.

"The whole thing started when I first met Meta Knight..." I continued as I started remember everything that's lead up to all this. They reactions morphed throughout the time I spoke. I kept only to the important stuff like when we met the first monster to arrive on earth, the shocking news reports, and then leaving to go find a way to stop Nightmare from destroying our planet all for the sake of killing Meta Knight.

"So that's why all this is happening?" asked Amberlin. I didn't have to answer so her to know the answer to that question. Everyone but Hardwin was looking down at their laps, allowing the information sink in.

"Can I ask how you five got here?" Amberlin looked up from her lap and nodded at me.

"I live in Washington, over in the west coast. I got sent to Washington D.C. for a class field trip when the attacks started. I got separated from my class as the military started to evacuate everyone from the cities." Her mind flashed to the moment where she was left screaming for her friends to come back for her as they ran, getting picked up by a nearby officer as buildings around her fell.

Frederik sat up at that moment, guessing it was now his turn. "I'm from Colorado, amazingly with the exact same story as Amberlin. Only I was alone when things started going to hell." Images of him running down empty streets started to play, fires started to erupt behind him as he tried to escape the creatures not too far behind.

"I came from Florida, my parents were with me when we got attacked. We got saved by a passing by police car just as we got cornered. We were being taken to the west coast when our convoy got ambushed by some monsters that were hiding up ahead. They drove away, leaving anyone who was unlucky enough to fall off the buses during the struggle. I was among the unlucky ones..." Sorrow filled Natalie's eyes as she remembered the painful fall from the bus, and her mother desperately trying to reach for her, grabbing nothing but air.

"I live here..."

Me and Meta Knight turned to Kayla as she whispered those words. She kept her eyes low not wanting to meet ours.

"I lived in Batesville, a small town not far from here. There's not much left of it now, but... it was a beautiful town. I can almost see the still standing buildings every time I think about it. Most of us here are from there. The town was surrounded by monsters, making it impossible for the government to send someone to help with evacuation, so we left by ourselves and sought out refuge in the woods. After a while more people started showing up." She turned to her friends. "My parents were away on a business trip when all this happened, thankfully..." The thoughts of her now ruined town still haunted her.

I looked at them, my heart started to feel heavy. I felt bad. I had left my family on my own accord so I could help Meta Knight on his quest to stop Nightmare, while they had been forced.

"Hardwin!" came a cheerful voice from outside the tent. A small girl with dark pink hair came running inside, smiling happily at the sight of him. She pushed her way past the chairs as she jumped into Hardwin's arms. She was still giggling when Hardwin abruptly got up and stormed off, leaving the girl staring sadly after him.

I looked at Hardwin in horror as he left. How could someone be so heartless towards a child. I felt like punching the bastard in the face but instead got up to comfort the small girl. I wiped away a small tear from the corner of her eyes as I picked her up. She looked to be five with her small fragile figure. Deep blue eyes shot up at me in surprise.

"Who are you?" She asked shyly.

"I'm Jessica, whats your name?" I ask, trying to make the voice as gentle as possible.

"It's *Sniff* Nia." she sniffled trying to hold back tears. I smiled, placing her on my lap, and then slowly began petting her head trying to comfort her. This was something I used to do with Alex when he would cry when he was younger. She calmed down after a moment, but kept staring at the entrance of the tent that Hardwin had just exited through minutes ago.

"Whats up with him?" I snarled, letting my anger get the best of me.

"Hardwin lost his parents during the evacuation in New York. He's been this way since they died." Amberlin looked across the table to Nia who paid no attention to her. " Hardwin and Nia came from the same city. She got separated from her parents during the mess and got left behind. Hardwin found her while she was being attacked and saved her. Ever since then, she's always tried to stay close to him, but Hardwin always rejects any type of affection she or anyone else tries to give him."

I felt Nia tense up, tightening her grip on my arm at the mention of those memories. I reassuringly wrapped part of my cloak around her trying to calm her down again. "It must be really hard on her, seeing everything you once loved yanked away from you in a instant, and the very person you look up to as brother only keeps pushing you away." I thought to myself, I could literally feel my heart breaking at the thought of what this girl was going through.

Nia, finally looking away from the entrance started to check her surrounding for more new people in the room she might have missed, when she spotted Meta Knight. We watched as her eyes widened, I was worried she'd take Meta Knight for a monster like everyone else, when a big old smile spread across her face. She jumped out of my arms and tackled Meta Knight to the floor while everyone else just watched in shock. I nearly started cracking up when I realized what had happened.

"METY!" She started chanting, pulling Meta Knight into a big hug, the Knight trying to pull away while attempting to figure out what was going on.

"Well looks like you found yourself another fan, 'Mety'" copying Nia's nickname for him.

He struggled to get out of her bear hug, eyes flashing red a my comment. This was fun to watch, Meta Knight rarely ever got into situations like this, but you can't help but laugh when he did.

"Wait a minute, I knew I heard that name before! He's from the Kirby games right?" Frederick asked, still mystified by the scene before him.

"Took you guys long enough, I was beginning to think no one would notice." I mused.

"Can someone please get this girl off me?" Meta Knight pleaded. Nia continued squishing him, still wrapped up in her little fan girl moment. I laughed as I picked Nia off of him, allowing him to finally get up. Nia gave a little disappointed "Aw w".

"Sorry Nia but Meta Knight's not a stuffed animal, he's still got to breath you know." This made us all laugh, even Meta Knight gave a small inaudible chuckle.

* * *

**Jessica**: HAHHAHAHA! *Still laughing from the story*

**Meta Knight**: Why does this always happen to me?

**Me**: Don't worry about it Meta Knight, people love scenes like this

**Nia**: Mety!

**Meta Knight**: Not again...

* Frederik, Natalie, Kayla, and Amberlin laughing at a distance while watching Meta Knight run from Nia*

**Jessica**: Should we help? *Still snickering*

**Me**: Na, he'll get used to it

*turning back to the readers*

**Me:** Alright I hope you enjoyed another episode of "Protectors of Peace". If you guys have any questions about the new characters or anything else feel free to leave a comment or PM me whenever you guys want. Feed back is also welcomed, I really want to see what you guys have to say about my writing before continuing-

**Jessica**: You take too long, just say you'll have Nia annoy Meta Knight more often in future episodes if they don't review!

**Me**: Little harsh don't you think?

**Everyone but Meta Knight and Hardwin**: Na!

*Fade out appears as Nia continues to chase Meta Knight while we all laugh in the background*


	5. Episode 5: Tour of the Fallen Pt1

**Me**: Is Nia still chasing Meta Knight?

**Jessica**: Yep...

**Me**: Oh god...

**Meta Knight**: How could you do this to me?! *Still running*

**Nia**: Come on Mety! Just one last hug! *Still chasing*

**Amberlin**: Are we going to start the new episode?

**Me**: Yeah, just as soon as everyone arrives.

**Kayla**: Who's missing?

**Me:** *Checks clipboard* Frederik and... thats it.

**Kayla**: I'll be back. *Disappears*

**Me**: Jessica the set ready?

**Jessica**: Yeah!

**Kayla**: Back! *Comes in dragging a beat up Frederik*

**Me**: What happened to him?

**Kayla**: He overslept...

**Frederik**: H-help... me... *Twitches in pain*

**Me**: O.O'

**Jessica**: Cut to the episode quick! We need a MEDIC!

* * *

Episode 5: Tour of the Fallen Pt1

"Its pretty late."

We all stopped laughing and turned to Amberlin.

"We should all go to sleep and then tomorrow we can show you around the camp," she continued.

"What time is it?" I asked, having completely forgotten to check during our travel.

"About 2 AM." replied Kayla.

"Do we really have to go to bed now? It was just getting good," wined Natalie.

"Yeah, but unlike you some of us value what little sleep we get now a days. Besides I'm not saying it because of me." she said, pointing to the small child who was already starting to doze off in her seat. She walked over and picked Nia up in her arms.

"You guys should get some rest too," she turned to me and Meta Knight. "It looked like you guys only got a couple hours of sleep before you got attacked by that massive group of monsters." A smile started to play on my lips, a couple of hours HAD been all we slept. We followed everyone to where the living quarters were found.

"Hey if you guys want, you can have my tent tonight." offered Frederik trying to get my attention. Natalie, Amberlin and Kayla snicker at his words and then one turned to him.

"Oh, that won't be necessary, we already have a tent set up for them." they said making him give a small inaudible sigh in disappointment. We stopped in front a classic camping tent next to twenty others similar to it.

"Well this is it and don't worry, it's roomier that it looks." said Kayla before leaving with the rest to their own beds. Our tent was a navy blue with white boarders surrounding its edges. The inside was exactly the same except for the pale blue bottom. Two pillows and blankets waited within.

"Its been like, forever since I've last slept on something this soft!" I said, burying my face in the pillow.

I laid down on it and started to pull up one of the sheets our new friends had been kind enough to give us. I felt snug under the thin blanket, it's warmth already lulling me to sleep with every passing second. I caught a glimpse of Meta Knight also settling down for the night as my tired eyes finally gave in and closed shut, sending me into a dreamless slumber.

I later woke up to a sharp pain in my shoulder and a painfully loud voice screaming in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw Nia trying to nudge me awake, pushing hard on my shoulder for a response.

"Come on Jessica! Wake up!" she panted.

"Alright, alright I'm up." I groaned, sitting up. "What is it?"

"It's time to eat." She said. I arched an eyebrow, was that it? She smiled and quickly crawled out the tent. I yawned, stretching my stiff arms before deciding to follow after her.

The sun's bright rays were harsh on my now sensitive eyes, making me squint as I looked outside. Frederik, Natalie, Amberlin and Kayla were already outside waiting for me with Nia happily prancing around. I yawned again, straightening myself out before slowly walking up to them.

"Sleeping beauty finally awakes." Frederik chuckled. I fixed my hair before replying.

"Hopefully no one kissed me, right?" I said sarcastically glaring at him. He laughed.

"Not yet." he answered, continuing his laugh. Kayla, at his sly remark, stepped on his foot, making him yelp in pain as he hopped around on one leg.

"Just ignore him." She apologized. "Idiot doesn't know the proper way to talk to girls."

I snickered, "I can tell."

"Warn me next time you want to do that!" he cried, still holding onto his poor foot.

"And what would be the fun in that?" laughed Natalie, obviously enjoying herself at his expense. He muttered something under his breath when she turned away.

"Jessica?" I heard a small voice call from behind me as she pulled at my cloak, which I had mistakenly forgotten to remove before falling asleep.

"Yeah?" I asked Nia.

"Have you seen Meta Knight?" I looked to her in confusion soon discovering that the knight was indeed missing.

"No, but good question." I replied, glancing around. I stopped when I spotted two yellow orbs staring at us from the trees.

"Oh, there he is!" I accidentally blurted out, when I spotted him. I froze when the sound of several face-palms came behind me as their hands collided with their foreheads. There was an awkward when I realized what I had just done.

"Mety!" She cried as she ran towards the tree as fast as her little feet could carry her. Her arms outstretched as if she was waiting for the knight to happily comply and jump into them. I stared as Meta Knight jumped out of the tree and laded with a soft "thud" and began running in the opposite direction, Nia still chasing after. "What did I just do?" I asked myself.

"Don't worry about it, he'll to outrun her eventually." Natalie said, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I looked up from the ground with a grin, seeing the logic in her words made me feel slightly better.

"Yeah... I guess we'll be seeing him again in about... ten seconds by the looks of it." I calculated, my cheeks still burning from embarrassment.

"Three actually."

Everyone, but me, gasped as they spun around to find Meta Knight standing calmly behind us. His eyes flashed a soft pink of amusement at their reactions. Though I could somehow tell he had been expecting it.

"Damn, you really are fast."Frederik uttered in astonishment.

"So, where did you ditch her?" Natalie asked.

"She's still looking for me within the camp's sleeping quarters." he answered casually.

"Do you guys want to go get something to eat, I'm starved!" Frederik said, trying to change the subject.

"Well that is the reason we're here..." smiled Kayla. "Come on, lets go before Nia figures out where we went." she added. They walk away until they noticed we weren't following.

"Something the matter?" Natalie asked, tilting her head in thought.

"No, it's just that," I hesitated, I didn't want to hurt their feeling by refusing. I didn't want to bother them with an extra mouth to feed.

"Open invitation you know..." She urged.

"Yeah I know but-"

"We humbly accept the offer," Interrupted Meta Knight.

"Alright then, lets go!" cheered Frederik with his fist in the air. The rest followed after him, Meta Knight not far behind.

"Good grief..." I mumbled to myself. "What happened to not wanting to be a burden on these people?" I stared at Meta Knight in surprise. He felt my stare and stopped momentarily to wait for me.

I sighed, giving up to the small growl in my stomach as I ran to catch up.

_Minutes later..._

"What is it?" I asked eyeing the brown contents in the bowl.

"We don't really know ourselves..." Frederik answered nervously.

"It tastes better than you think though," Amberlin promised, "just try it."

I looked back to the foul smelling liquid with random chunks of produce swimming around in it. I paused for an instant before taking my spoon and dipping it into the substance. They watched in anticipation with the spoon just inches from my mouth. I sighed before bringing the spoon to my mouth. My eyes widened.

They leaned forward, waiting for me to start gagging of something. They leaned further when when I swallowed.

"Wow," I exclaimed. "It really is good." Astonished by how something so foul looking could taste like that.

They slumped back into their chairs in relief.

"Would you like some more dear?"

A tall woman with ruby hair stood beside Meta Knight, noting his empty bowl. He shook his head as she cleared his half of the table. She then made her way to us.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" She asked.

"Yes, it was very delicious." I replied happily.

"Jessica, this is Katherine, she's in charge of cooking the meals here." Amberlin introduced. "She used to own a restaurant in a city nearby, and you can already tell how awesome cooking skills are."

"I can't take all the credit," She chuckled. "Natalie's been a lot of help too." Natalie blushed at her complement, it was weird for her to be praised in front of strangers.

"Thanks for the food Katherine!" Frederik thanked, passing her our plates before turning back to us.

"Hey, you guys want to go explore the camp?"

"Yeah," I replied, hinted with excitement. Meta Knight slowly nodded in agreement.

"Oh yeah... Katherine? Have you seen Hardwin around lately?" She shook her head, looking to an empty table close by.

"No, but Ella said he came in early in the morning and just walked off, but I'm sure he'll turn up soon." She reassured.

"Oh, okay I guess we'll just meet up with him later..." He said, getting up.

"Have fun you kids, and make sure you show those two a good time!" she called after us as we left the rations tent. We only managed to walk two steps when a vaguely familiar voice shouted from behind.

"Mety!" She chimed as she tackled the stunned Meta Knight to the ground.

"Finally found you!" she giggled. We sighed, "not again", we thought in unison.

"Nia... you need to stop doing that to poor Meta Knight. It's rude." I chided, dragging her off.

"Aw... I'm sorry." she said sadly.

"I forgive you," he replied, "just re frame from tackling me..."

"Yay!" She yelled hugging him again. He gave one last defeated sigh before accepting the hug.

"So she's coming with us?" Frederik asked, scratching the side of his head.

"We can't really say no, now can we?" Kayla retorted, smiling at the sweet child. "Would you like to help show Jessica and Meta Knight around this place?"

"Ah..." she mouthed, eyes widened in exhilarated by the thought as she began to jump around.

"We'll take that as a yes." We laughed at her glee, the knight's eyes turning pink as he found this amusing.

"How about we head to the training grounds first? It's not to far from here." Frederik suggested.

"Training grounds?" I asked in amazement as we began the tour.

"Yeah, we have to be able to fight, you know, if we come across any enemies. So a few of the adults who specialize in this stuff created a small open area in the woods for us. There they teach us how to fight with weapons or hand to hand." He explained casually.

"That explains a lot." I muttered to myself.

"Did you say something?" Having heard a fraction of what I just said.

"Huh? Oh nothing..." I answered quickly.

"Still a little mad about getting rescued by someone stronger than you?" He teased. My eye twitched at his comment, clenching me first to stop myself from hitting him. I gave him a small wary smile instead, to hide my annoyance.

"Nope, not at all." I replied calmly, my eye still twitching in anger.

_Crash_! _Slash_! _Clang_!

The sound of swords clashed against each other caught our attentions. The sounds came from up ahead, and grew louder as we neared out destination.

"That's strange... Training usually doesn't start till late noon." his expression puzzled.

"I wonder who it is." Responded Natalie with the same confused expression.

We entered the small opening seconds later. Within it were many recently cut logs placed upright in the ground. All of these bore deep and long cuts from when people's swords would strike them. Nearby a hand full of hand made targets were arranged along the treeline. A few forgotten arrows still stuck in the bull's eye ring.

At the very center of the clearing stood Hardwin and an adult, slightly taller and stronger than he. His matted blond hair whisked through the wind as he effortlessly deflected all of Hardwin's attacks where as Hardwin struggled to do the same. Both of the men were armed with wooden swords.

"Concentrate Hardwin! If you can't anticipate my movements how will you be able to defend against them?" commanded the older male.

"I know!" He grunted, putting more force into his attacks. He stopped when his teacher's sword touched his chest, right where his heart was located.

"Your strikes are too wide and slow... If you continue this way, you'll only end up giving your enemies the opening they desire." he warned. He lowered his wooden weapon, his eyes flickering to us for a brief instant and stepped away.

"That's Felix," Amberlin suddenly spoke. "He used to be a fencing instructor from the same city as Katherine. We're just lucky to have him as our coach he's really strong."

I turned and stared at him, he's got talent. I glanced down at Meta Knight who was standing besides Nia, his eyes a light green.

"Better fighter than you?" I teased. He chuckled.

"No, but he has skill, I'll give him that." I could sense a smirk underneath his mask.

We walked over to the two, who were now resting from lesson. Felix leaned against a log while Hardwin sat the floor ignoring our pressance.

"Welcome, you must be the two wanderers everyone's been talking about. I'm Felix" he said offering his hand.

"I've heard. I'm Jessica," shaking his it. "And this is Meta Knight," I said nodding towards him.

"Good to see new faces every once and a while... Well, face." he said glancing at his masked knight.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hardwin asked angrily.

"We're showing our new friends around and there's no reason to get so pissy about it!" Kayla snapped. He muttered something under his breath that only Kayla managed to catch. His silent remark seemed enraged her even more.

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing..."he muttered softly.

"WHAT, can't hear ya!" She taunted, yelling in his ear.

"I said NOTHING!" whipping his head back to face her.

Everyone, even me and Meta Knight, silently retreated at the sound of their arguing.

"This happens everyday?" I asked Natalie. She nodded at a loss for words.

"Um... I think this would be a good time to go and show them the stream now..." Frederik broke in nervously.

"Fine!" They yelled, snapping their heads to the side as Kayla stomped away.

"Can I join you kids, I could use a good break break before I start my afternoon classes." Felix interjected.

"Sure." Felix replied, happily forgetting about the fight.

"Then let's go!" he urged, taking the lead and then suddenly stopped after remembering something.

"Come along Hardwin, you need to rest too, ." He called sternly. Hardwin remained where he was a while longer before finally joining us, keeping a safe distance from Kayla the entire way.

After a bit, the trickle of rushing water could be heard nearby. Nia picking up on the sound began running ahead of us.

A similar setting to the steam we had found a day before Batesville was laid out before us. The abundant undergrowth covered most of the banks, along with the nearby trees that shaded the stream from the sun's harmful ray's.

We watched Nia splash around in the water until she tired out. Her clothes were soaked by the time she was done.

"God Nia, your going to catch a cold one of these days," Amberlin scolded, trying to dry her off.

"Sorry," She laughed. "Too much fun!"

She sighed. "What are we going to do with you?" Pulling her into a bear hug.

"I think we should head back now. I'm suppose to start my class in half an hour." Felix called from beside the stream.

After a bit of reasoning with Nia we finally began the long trek back to the training grounds. We had to answer some of Felix's questions along the way.

"So that's what happened..." He nodded in understanding of our story.

"We just hope you win the war soon, we want to get back to our old lives as soon as possible." Everyone nodded in agreement to Frederik.

"When this is all over, I just might treat you all to what ever you want at Katherine's restaurant." He laughed.

"You might end up regretting it, Frederik's a bottomless pit." mused Natalie. I began laughing under my breath at the thought of him pigging out on everything in the menu.

We then heard a low gasp and rustle followed by a loud _Thud_.

"For a master fencer you sure do trip a lot... Felix!?" Frederik stuttered in shock. We whirled around, a small horrified scream slowly began to built up in my chest at the sight in front of me.

Felix laid face-down in a pool of his own blood. A red "_X_" engraved deep into his back. Blank eyes staring at nothing. Specks of blood trailing into the trees.

"Felix!" We screamed.


	6. Episode 6: Tour of the Fallen Pt2

**Me**: Hi! And welcome back to another episode of "Protectors of Peace!". Now before we start the episode we have a few things to go over with you guys regarding the story.

**Jessica**: Two things actually.

**Me**: Alright, then how about you start us off.

**Jessica**: One, we will no longer have skits at the end of the episode. We're starting to get the feeling it messes up the mood at the end of a serious reads.

**Me**: Two, any "thoughts" or "sounds" will be represented in italics so people don't get it confused with dialog and such.

**Nia**: Three! I broke my promise to Mety!

**Meta Knight**: ...

**Me**: Oh well, that's about all we have to say for now. If you guys disagree with something or have an opinion, just PM or review and we'll see what we can do.

**Meta Knight**: *presses button to start show*

**Jessica**:*Dangling upside down from random rope* That's the wrong button! Wait a minute! You've been planning this since the beginning of the series, haven't you! Admit it! *Starts raging*

**Meta Knight**: *Smirks under mask* *presses correct button*

* * *

Episode 6: Tour of the Fallen Pt2

I covered my mouth, trying to prevent myself from inhaling the nauseating scent of blood that began to mangled with the fresh aroma of the forest. Felix laid on the floor motionless, face rid of any color or emotion. His dark blood masked the ground beneath him, staining everything it touch in a deadly red hue.

"Felix!" voices called. I stood there frozen, fixated by horror and disbelief. I felt a small urge scream slowly build up within my chest.

"Something's here, stay on guard!" warned Meta Knight. A quick surge of electricity and Galaxia was in his hand. The others quickly huddled together, scanning the surroundings for the next attack. Their expression terrified as none of them held a weapon.

"Bad time to forget your sword at home" Frederik muttered to himself.

_Rustle._

The bushes behind Nia shook just as Hardwin pushed her out of the way of a star shaped blade that whooshed past their heads. They fell to the ground, Hardwin using his body to cushion Nia's fall. The star then recoiled, disappearing back into the trees. We all rushed to Hardwin, helping him up and checking the girl for any injuries. Meta Knight stood inches away but was too busy deflecting a second blade to help.

"Come out already! Show yourself you coward!" Kayla shouted to the trees. A loud roar erupted from the shadows across from us as a response to Kayla's shouting. I noticed something about the sound though, to me it sounded more like a laugh than a roar. A white figure silently walked into the open, leaving behind the safety of the shadows.

The creature stood on four legs, nearly the height of a full grown human. It's every bone easily definable from underneath it's extremely tight skin. A crescent shaped dome bulged at the top of it's head, the two edges sticking out just below it's jaw. It bared no ears or eyes, yet it was still managing to pinpoint out exact locations. The two tails behind it lashed impatiently to the side, their tips attached to the large star blades that attacked us.

It's non existent eyes stared at us, deliberating which one of us would become it's new prey. It raised it's tails into the air slightly, pulling back it's lips in a grin, exposing it's massive canines. That smile infuriated me.

_How dare you smile... After what you've done!_

I stared coldly at the beast, balling my hands up into fists.

_I'm getting sick and tired of not being able to help anyone. __**Sick**__ of getting saved and __**tired**__ of not being able to save!_

I bolted past Frederik, who was standing in front of me, just as the two tails sprang forward. My cloak flew off as I pulled out my swords to deflect them. My sudden intervention stunned Meta Knight and everyone else as I stopped the stars in their tracks and held them there with my sword. Some restraint within my mind suddenly snapped, allowing all the anger within me to escape.

_For once, I'll be the one protecting! And I'll start by destroying __**you**__!_

"What are you doing?!", "Get away!" they cried. I ignored them, still keeping the beast's tails at bay as it gave an angry huff when applied more pressure to my sword to no avail.

"What are you doing!" Frederik cried again. I turned my head slightly and looked into his eyes.

"What I should have been doing from the beginning!" I yelled pushing the tails away with one quick flick of my wrist.

_Now lets put my fighting skills to the ultimate test._

The blade came rocketing towards me again as I dived out of the way. I used the temporary momentum of my dodge to pivot on the ball of my foot, landing a kick to the monster's jaw. It stumbled back in shock before recovering from the blow.

The stars came spiraling back more forceful than before, ripping through the trees as they missed their target. I kept avoiding each strike faster than the last, noticing a slight pattern in it's attacks.

It flung it's tail downwards at my feet, hoping to catch me off guard in the air as the second came from behind. Using my weight, I quickly spun out of the way causing the blade to cut through a nearby tree. It fell with a loud crash, pinning the tail under it.

I rushed towards the monster, using the distraction to my advantage. Realizing my advance it used it's only free tail to try and knock me away. Instead of allowing the blade to do so, I duck under it, digging my sword into it's underbelly as I skidded underneath. The sudden pain from my attack gave it the strength needed to finally free it's tail with one swift tug.

Then a strange sensation began to engulf the battlefield. I looked to it in confusion, as the air began to feel heavier. It was if the demon itself was radiating some sort of energy. I hesitated to move once the sensation hit me completely, snapping me out of my rage induced trance.

_What is this?This feeling, it's dark, sinister almost._

It began growling, growing louder by the second, whipping it's tails around in anger.

_Whatever this feeling is, it's not good a good sign. If i don't kill this thing fast it might end up going on a rampage._

It lunged it's tails again in a sudden barrage, every failed attempt to hit me left a small dent in the ground I had stood on seconds before. I ran along it's left flank, trying to find an opening but it's quickening attacks were making it hard for me to go near it. I struggled to think clearly again after having let go of my anger, only now beginning to notice the changes in the monster in front of me.

_It's getting stronger!_

Meta Knight, who was watching from a safe distance was beginning to note the difference as well. It's new strength and energy were becoming very worrisome.

_Slash!_

My eyes widened in shock as it's tail came shooting past my head, cutting deep into my cheek as I barely managed to avoid it.

"Shit-" I stuttered, jumping back from the pain.

_It's getting faster too!_

The tails began to circle around the beast, almost in a protective manner. If I tried to get close the tails were sure to cut off.

It's not leaving me many options, close range attacks aren't going to cut it. If only I could hit it with something long range.

I looked intensely at my sword, wishing it was bow or spear for just a moment.

_Wait, that's it!_

I sprinted forward, a drop of sweat fell down my forehead as I ran. If this doesn't work, I'll get slaughtered for sure.

It shot it's tails up again, aiming to kill as I ran towards it. The tails missed and crashed into the ground I once stood on as I leaped into the air again. In an instant both tails were retracted and were flung at me again. The space between them widened, lessening my chances of escape. I watched as they came closer, trapping me in mid air.

"Just as I thought."

_Slurch!_

The blades stopped inches away from my arms as I fell back onto the ground with a soft _thud_. I knelled on one leg as I caught my breath.

_That was a close one..._

It stood there motionless, tails still fixated where they stopped moments before they could cut me. In it's head was my trusty sword, that had cut through it's brain and throat. I was relieved that my plan actually work and that my aim was still on target. It had taken a lot of energy just to throw my it, let alone aim.

It began to disintegrate into dust at the moment of death. The sword fell and clattered on the floor as a gust of wind blew away the ash. I tried to get to my feet to retrieve my sword when it was suddenly handed to me.

"You alright?" Frederik asked as he helped me up.

"Yeah, just didn't expect it to be that strong." I replied.

"You fought well Jessica," Meta Knight praised, eyes yellow with a hint of blue. "And I see that aim of yours is as deadly as ever."

"Don't tell me your still mad about that?" I chuckled softly. I felt something grab my leg then, startling me for a split second before realizing it was only Nia. She was sobbing softly into my shirt.

"I'm alright Nia. Honest." I said as I picked up the crying child. She sobbed even more in my arms.

"I'll take her if you want." I was shocked to see Hardwin offering to comfort her even after being suck a jerk to her. I shook my head.

"No, it's alright. I don't mind actually" I replied. He nodded and walked away. He went over and joined the girls who were gathering around Felix's body, debating how they were going to tell the others about his death.

"So what are going to do?" I asked sadly. They went silent for a moment.

"We don't really know." Frederik answered. I could see the pain in his eyes when he responded.

"We'll take care of the body, you just rest." I looked to Amberlin, but she didn't lift her gaze to meet mine as she spoke. "We'll take him to Katherine... she was closest to him. They've known each other since they were kids."

My heart lurched.

_It's going to be painful sight for her..._

* * *

We walked back into camp to find an large crowd huddling in the center. Everyone's expressions were filled with worry and concern. We looked around to see if anything had happened while we were away but found nothing. Then a familiar face looked away from the crowd and bounded towards us.

"Thank goodness you kids are alright!" She yelled, attracting the attention of everyone behind her. "We heard screeching and trees falling in the forest! I remembered you bunch headed in that direction and we got worried. Thank goodness your all al-" She trailed when she looked behind me.

Frederik and Hardwin had just walked into the camp, carrying the body of Felix. Tears started streaming down Katherine's face at the sight of him. She collapsed on all fours in shock, sitting up in disbelief. Her arms wrapped themselves tightly around her body, trying to keep herself from falling apart.

"FELIX!" Frederik and Hardwin stopped and placed him down in front of her. Her hand shook as she tried to reach for him, but instead came smashing down onto earth. She gritted her teeth in grief, her uncontrollable sobbing echoing through the camp.

She looked down at his now peaceful face, her hair falling down, covering her face, when she did.

"Why... Why did you leave me alone? I thought you promised never to leave my side?!" she wept. "You were always such a freak'n liar!" Memories of her childhood came forth. Two children ran through the streets, playing tag, one with ruby hair, one with blond. Their laughs carried through the neighborhood by the passing wind. Their youthful smiles filled with glee and happiness.

She reached for him again, this time sitting him up for a hug. His blood staining her face when she rubbed her's against his. The wetness of her tears bringing new life the dried mess on his cheek. Her friends in the crowd circled around them, trying to comfort her for her loss, but she only shook them off. All she wanted was to be with her best friend for one last time.

Frederik, Kayla, Amberlin, and everyone else were crying, they had befriended Felix when they first arrived here and were hurt by this as well. Nia turned and buried her face in Hardwin's side, not wanting to see anymore.

"Jessica," I blinked away the tears that threatened to overflow before facing him. I composed myself.

"Yes Meta Knight?"

"Come with me, we need to talk." he answered before turning away. I gave Katherine and Felix one last glance before following. He stopped at the edge of the camp, far enough no one to hear our conversation.

"You sensed it too, haven't you?" I nodded, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

"That monster's energy... That's what this is about, isn't it?" He didn't turn to look at me, but he continued.

"Yes, I fear Nightmare's forces are growing stronger. That monster was one of many. Creatures similar to the one we fought today, or worse will surely follow." He looked up at the sky, examining the sun's height. "The longer we stay, the more we put them in danger." We glanced back to the group of people mourning for one of their dearest friends. It pained me to look at them.

"Gather your-,"

"Belongings, I know. I've been thinking the same." I murmured, my voice nothing more than a whisper as I walked away.

I walked out of the tent we had slept in the night before with my backpack and cloak in my hands. My still stained sword rested on my back, it's silver sheath hidden beneath my long black hair. I walked through the camp slowly, taking in every last detail before I left.

_I just hope that if I should ever come back here again, everything will be back to the way it was before... No more death and destruction... At least, I hope._

I found Meta Knight waiting for me at the camps entrance, he stood in the same spot as before. We nodded to each other silently as we took one last, regretful, look at the camp. Just as we turned away a voice yelled after us. We turned again, to find Frederik and his friends behind us.

They each wore cloaks on top of their usual clothing. I noticed they all had their swords with them as well. I looked at them in surprise.

"What is the meaning of this?" ordered Meta Knight, I could tell that he didn't like what he saw. I didn't either.

"We're coming with you!" cried Hardwin, I noted the determination in his eyes. We took a step back, not knowing what to say.

"Why?" Meta Knight answered again. He stared hard at the teens before him.

"To help," answered Amberlin.

"To fight," said Kayla.

"To protect," added Natalie.

"And we want to show Nightmare what we humans can do." finished Frederik, all sharing the same determined stare Hardwin had.

"No."

They all stared at me, biting their lips in frustration, they hadn't been expecting me to be the one to refuse them.

"Why not?" Hardwin asked coldly.

"How do you think we'll feel if any of you five get hurt?" I asked harshly, I could almost taste the venom in my words.

They were stunned my sudden hostility but still continued to press the subject. What they said next came as a slap to the face.

"We'll just follow after you!"

"We'll won't give up!"

"We'll go anyways!"

I flinched. Meta Knight stared at me, waiting for a response that never came. He knew they had hit a nerve when they uttered those words. He just wanted to see how it felt to have the shoe on the other foot for once, because... those were the exact same words I had said to him the day I left home.

I lowered my gaze, staring long and hard at the ground, not knowing what to do now. I exhaled deeply, giving up on the subject. Defeated, I walked away silently without uttering another word along with Meta Knight as flicked his cape behind him. Smiles grew across their faces when they saw I had given up and slowly walked after us. The camp soon becoming nothing but a distant memory as we disappeared into the forest.

* * *

_Step, step, step._

We walked quietly through the woods, everyone distracted by the excitement of being away from camp, except for me and Meta Knight. We then stopped abruptly, they rest followed in surprise. Frederik tried to say something but I silenced him instead, and turned to Meta Knight.

_Step, step, step... snap._

"We're being followed." The knight informed our new followers. They turned around and listened intently to the wood behind, trying to figure out who or what was tailing us.

"At first I thought it was just a random animal but it's been following us for too long," I added, walking towards the now gone footsteps."You guys stay here while I check it out." I was out of their sights within seconds.

As I walked I saw a small figure up ahead, walking between the trees. Spotting me at the same time, the figure ducked behind a nearby tree, followed by a small whimper. I walked closer, confused. When I got close enough, I spotted see a few strands of dark pink hair sticking out from behind the tree. I wrinkled my forehead uneasiness.

_Please let me be wrong._

"Nia?" I asked hesitantly hoping the figure would not respond to the name. A small child stepped out from behind the tree and gave me an innocent look. I sighed.

_Great... just great._

I picked up the Nia in my arms and made my way back to Meta Knight and the others. They were speechless when they saw me walk up with Nia. Meta Knight face-palmed, muttering an "oi" under his breath while everyone else remained dumbfounded. Hardwin finally registering what was going on, marched up to Nia.

"What are you doing here!?" he asked her. She cringed a little before I answered for her.

"Ain't it obvious? She followed us." He stared angrily at me then to her.

"Well we need to take her back." he said flatly. I shook my head. "Why not!" He demanded.

I smiled warily. "She's only going to follow again, and trust me it's more dangerous for a little girl than a teenager to be out on their own." I said softly.

She looked to me with hopeful eyes. "I can stay?" She asked.

I sighed. "Yes, you can stay." I answered. She beamed, screaming "Yay!" as we continued on our journey.

* * *

"What news do you bring?" called a voice from the darkness. The dark figure hunched over his throne, tapping his fingers impatiently. Another figure emerged from the shadows before him.

"I regret to inform you that White Fang has failed in his mission and that Sir Meta Knight has acquired six more followers on his quest, along with the girl already in his company." he answered.

"Fool, does he honestly think he can vanquish me with mere humans? No matter, we will dispose of him soon enough. Now go, make preparations for the next attack." he ordered, waving him away.

The servant dipped his head before disappearing into the shadows again. "Yes Lord Nightmare."

"Soon, very soon." He said to himself.

"Soon! This galaxy and everyone in it, will bow before their new king! And no one, not even Meta Knight will be able to stop me!"He announced to the heavens, an evil laugh echoing through the darkness that surrounded him.


	7. Episode 7: Divide and Conquer

**Me**: What's up all you lovely people! Today we're back wi-

**Jessica**: GET ME THE FUDGE DOWN! *Still dangling upside down*

**Me**: O.o Have you been up there since last episode?

**Jessica**: YES!

**Me**: Meta Knight! Cut her down right - ...

* Glares at Meta Knight's empty chair*

**Me**: *Face-palms* Sometimes I regret even waking up in the mornings...

**Jessica**: I think your still fogeting something! *Still squirming*

(Frederik walks in with ice pack)

**Frederik**: Yo! Great to finally be back and- *Stares at Jessica* What happened?

**Jessica**: Just shut up and get me down from here!

*Meta Knight suddenly walks in*

**Me, Jessica, and Frederik**: ...

**Meta Knight**: *walks over to start button*

**Me and Jessica**: No wait! Don't press the-

* * *

Episode 7: Divide and Conquer

"Are we there yet?" My eye began twitching at Natalie's complaints.

"No, we still have a lot of ground to cover..." I repeated for the hundredth time. She looked to me in disappointment.

"Can we have a break at least?" Asked Frederik, already missing the sweet shade of the forest.

"So you rather dangle on the edge of a cliff than find someplace safer?" I scoffed. He glared at me.

"How can you stand being in that thing?" He blurted out, pointing to my cloak. I turned to him in confusion until I saw Natalie, Amberlin, and himself without theirs. They looked exhausted.

"Why bring them if you aren't going to wear them?" I retorted. "I'm surprised you can't handle the heat?Look! I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt and pants underneath this, and I can manage just fine." I lifted the front to prove my point. I wore a open neck, black, long sleeved shirt. I choose the shirt because of the fabric that clung tightly to my skin, allowing me to move freely and not snag on anything when fighting. The same went for the dark grey jeans I had, though I didn't know what it was made of exactly. I lowed the cover again.

"And besides, just imagine how Meta Knight is fairing. He's wearing armor for crying out loud!" I continued.

"I actually don't mind the heat. To be honest, it's rather refreshing." he answered, overhearing our conversation.

"He's kidding right?" Frederik asked in awe.

_I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't..._

"Jessica's right Frederik, no one asked us to come along in the first place. The least we can do is keep our traps shut." Kayla put in. I shot her a greatful smile.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll shut up now."

"You know sometimes I can't tell the difference between Frederik and a two year old." Hardwin commented as he passed by.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean!" He called after him.

"Boys, they never learn." I heard Natalie chuckle behind me. I sighed, she had no idea.

"Eh, let's just hope they don't rub off on Nia." Amberlin joked. We all laughed.

"Um, speaking of which... Where is she." Amberlin interrupted. We gasped. Startled we turned our head furiously in all directions, hoping to spot her.

She stood on the edge of the overhang, happily chuckling to herself as she threw pebbles off the mountain face. She stood there oblivious to our panic frenzy, and unaware of the danger she was in.

"Hey Nia! Don't get to close to the edge, you might-" I looked in horror as the ground beneath her crumbled.

"NIA!" I yelled, jumping after her. Meta Knight and everyone else turned in shock as we vanished over the ledge.

Hardwin and Frederik were the first to arrive when they peered down the cavern below. Me and Nia were dangling helplessly at it's side from one hand, the girl my other. I desperately held onto the sword I had thrust ed into the rock just before falling to our possible deaths, already feeling my strength ebb. They tried reaching for me but I shook them off.

"No..." I gasped from the strain. "Get Nia first!" They obeyed, catching Nia as I pushed her towards them. They helped her up and away from the cliff as the girls took their place. Their hands locked around my arm as they strained to pull me up. The guys, seeing them struggle, joined in after getting Nia away from the cliff.

I was halfway over the ledge when the rock holding the sword gave way, forcing them to carry all for my weight. Kayla lost her grip and fell back, sending her and the boys flying into the wall behind them, while Natalie and Amberlin plummeted down the dark abyss with me. Our screams echoed off the mountain walls as we disappeared into the darkness.

"Are you three alright?" Meta Knight asked, shifting his attention to the teens before him rather than the ones who fell.

_Crumble... Crack._

He to a step forwards just as the ground shook and cracked. Kayla, rubbing her head in pain, watched as the ground engulfed Meta Knight and Nia, falling down a hole much like mine. Before they could utter so much as a word, the earth shook again and swallowing Kalya, Hardwin, and Frederik as well.

_Crash!_

Giant boulders soon began falling from the rupturing earth, trapping us in the rocky depths below.

* * *

_... What happened ?_

I slowly sat up, placing one hand on my pulsing temple. I looked around, trying to see past my own hand in the dark.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

A drop of water fell on my exposed my, sending violent shivers down my spine. Water dripped down the stalactites above, echoing off the cave walls. I stared at the rocks hanging above my head, my eyes hardening at the sight. But the sharp rocks hanging precariously above were the least of my worries.

_Where's the hole I fell through!_

The cave I was in was completely in tack, no holes of gaps in the roof. No indication that I had ever fallen into it. So if I there were no holes, how did I manage to wine up here?

I moved my hand to the side, trying to get to my feet when it brushed against something. I stiffened, afraid it was a poisonous snake or bug. Relaxing my muscles, I took a deep breath before looking at what my hand had touched.

A woman laid face down the floor, her matted brown hair covering her face. A wave of fear surged through me when the memory of us falling slowly returned.

"Natalie!" I whispered loudly, turning her over to make sure she was breathing. Her chest rose and fell at it's intended rate but her breaths were labored and pained. I carefully propped her up against a nearby stalagmite.

"Natalie! Come on wake up!" I begged, shaking her softly. Her eyelids twitched and began to open and then after a split second her eyes finally became focused again.

"Jessica?" She mouthed slowly, sitting up.

"Yeah, it's me." I answered, looking away into the darkness surrounding us.

"Where are we?" she asked more forcefully, her strength returning.

"I don't know." I said, continuing to scan the area. A flash of silver in the distance caught my attention.

_Amberlin!_

I stood up and ran to her. She began shuffle on her own, looking up in confusion. When I reached her, she was on all fours, trying to stand up.

"Argh!" she breathed as I helped her to her feet. She flinched when she began walking. "I think I hurt my back when I fell." She winced. Another set of arms wrapped around her as Natalie was suddenly there to help her walk as well. She looked intensely at the top of the cave.

"You noticed it too, huh?" I asked, eyes shifting back to the scene above. She nodded, trying to make since of it.

"Notice what?" Natalie asked, lost.

"There should be an entrance at the roof of this... We fell remember." she said looking at Natalie. "We should be seeing sunlight from the surface but do you see any?" She shook her head.

"So... we're trapped down here?" Natalie gulped.

"No," Amberlin answered. "Usually when there are cave systems like this, there are hundreds of small openings that lead to the surface." She said standing up straight. "Only problem will be trying to find one big enough to fit through."

"Then we should get moving." I announced. They agreed as we moved forward.

I hope the others as looking for us as well...

* * *

"Nia? Are you alright?" I asked the little girl. She sat up, muttering "ow" countless of times in process. She looked around, scared by the change in scenery.

"Uh-huh..." She whimpered, grabbing my cape for comfort. I didn't stop her this time, seeing as this was a dire situation.

"Come with me Nia. We're going to look for a way out." was all I said to the girl as she closely followed.

"Meta... I'm scared." she whispered.

"Don't worry Nia, your safe with me." I reassured her though I could hear she soft whimpering from behind. She huddled closer to me as time passed, her fear growing larger by the second.

"Nia... You need to be brave, we won't be able to find the others if you continue like this." I told her softly. She looked down at the ground in shame before a fire lit up in her eyes. The change in personality astounded me but I did not question it.

"Right!" She said boldly as we continued on.

I came to sudden stop moments later, only now realizing that I had almost walk off a cliff, and into the a large cavern below. Nia, not noticing my halt, bumped into me in surprise.

"What's wrong Meta?" She frowned before finally seeing the giant creator before us. "Oh..."

I looked around for a bridge of some kind and found one five feet to our right.

"It seems we have to walk across if we want make it to the other side." She nodded in response to my directions.

We walked slowly across the rock formation dangling above the empty chasm below. I wasn't too worried about crossing, the bridge seemed to be sturdy enough to hold more than the two of us, though Nia didn't seem to think so. She would continually peer over the edge, unnecessarily reminding herself of the abyss under our feet. A sweat drop started to form on her forehead, making her uneasiness visible to others. She sighed in relief when we walked onto solid ground.

"Nia..." I hesitated before asking.

"Yes?" She asked nervously.

"Do you want to stay here while go on ahead and find the exit?" Her eyes widened at the thought, I could tell she didn't want to be left alone.

"What?" She asked in shock. The plan wasn't too bad, she would remain here while I went to scout ahead for an exit, and be back in a heart beat so as to not leave the girl alone for too long. This would make she time in the dark smaller than it should be, and it would save us precious time. She looked at me,horrified, she didn't know how to respond at all to the question. Though the answer was clear so I answered for her instead.

"Never mind then, I can see the idea bothers you." I stated and continued walking in the same pace, waiting for her to follow after me. I relaxed again when I heard the soft tapping of her footsteps.

I could see a dim light up ahead, causing me to quicken my pace slightly. Then came voices that echoed off the walls from up ahead as well. I stained to make out what they were saying.

"I told you we went the wrong way!" Yelled a feminine voice.

"Shut up, and quit telling me what to do!" argued a deeper one.

"Guys, will you stop fighting! Your starting to get on my nerves!" Which was followed by a smack and a "Shut it."

Their arguing was making me reconsider joining up with them again.

"Hardwin!" Nia yelled, bolting past me. I sighed before finally walking after her.

_I don't really have a choice now do I?_

"Nia!" Hardwin gasped, as she tackled him the ground while Kayla and Frederik watched. I smiled underneath my mask.

_Jessica was right... It really was amusing when it happened to someone else._

"Meta Knight! Frederik!" a voice exclaimed suddenly. We turned to see Jessica, Natalie and Amberlin walk into the light as well.

"Thank goodness we're all here!" Jessica exclaimed. She seemed slightly surprised to see us.

"The light..." Amberlin said out of nowhere, grabbing our interest. "I think I can see the sky..." She added. I looked up. Through that small hole at the roof of the cave I could see puffy white clouds slowly passing over head. The blue sky now brighter than ever as it was now high noon and the sun was now at it's highest point. The girl was indeed telling the truth, but the only problem that remained was how we would use it to escape.

I quickly glanced at everyone to see if they had come to the same conclusion as me but stopped momentarily at Jessica when I saw she wasn't paying much attention to the small shaft but more to our surroundings.

We stood in on a perfect circle which we would assume to be the heart of the cave. Around us were a dozen other tunnels, each leading in their own separate direction. The light from the gap shining directly in the center of the opening we stood in.

I walked up to her just as she sensed my presence.

"Hey Meta Knight?" She asked carefully.

"Hm?"

"Do you remember how you got down here?"

"The earth crumbled beneath us shortly after you fell... why?" She looked hesitantly at the caves surrounding us, biting her lip.

"I'm starting to get the feeling this was no coincidence." She sharply.

"I believe you are right." I said, unsheathing Galaxia. I could sense a dark aura close by, and the distance between us was only growing smaller with each second.

_WRYYYYYYYYY!_

An ear spitting screech suddenly fulled the caverns, causing all of us to wince in pain as the sound echo within the small space of the cave. A large brown figure landed in the center of the opening, the wind from it's powerful wings nearly sweeping us away. The towering creature, without losing a beat, suddenly dug it's talons into the rock, letting lose one last wail as the ground began to shake again.

"That's the thing that's been making the caves!" screamed Jessica as the earth began breaking apart again.

"Not again!" cried Kayla as she began falling, me and everyone else close behind. The beady eyes of the brown figure was the last thing I saw as we again fell into the emptiness below.

* * *

We landed painfully on the ground below, hurting my arm slightly when we did. Amberlin and Natalie having been blown away in the same direction,+ landed just a few yards away. I was already on my feet when they came to. I stared in disbelief when I saw we had been thrust into the same situation from before.

"Come on!" I yelled, "Lets go before that thing finds us again." running into one of the caves in front of us, my friends chasing after.

"Where are we going!" cried Natalie.

"As long as we get some distance between that thing and us, I don't care!" answered Amberlin.

"Good to see we're on the same page!" I shouted to her.

_WRYYYYYYYYY!_

"Crap it found us!"

"Just keep running!" I called back to them. The sound of flapping grew closer.

"It's gaining on us!" Natalie screamed. I turned my head slightly to check only to see two shining black eyes and brown fur closing in. My eyes widened in desperation, we need a plan and fast!

"There!" Amberlin yelled pointing to a small tunnel in the caves walls ahead. We darted inside just as the beast came flying past. The creature, having not seen us jump onto a tear in the cave wall kept flying in the opposite direction. We remained silent until we made certain it had completely left. I slumped down in the corner in exhaustion.

"Huh, I though we would never escape. Good call on the tunnel there Amberlin."

"No sweat, I'm just glad we even had enough time for all of us to make it in here at all." she replied as she turned to Natalie. "You alright?"

Natalie was leaning out of the cave, staring after the creature that had attacked us. She was thinking hard about something.

"Natalie?"

"That thing..." She began. "Looked just like the Ahool." I stared at her in astonishment.

"Okay there are two problems with your theory. One it only native to Indonesia, and two, it doesn't exist!"

"Then how do you explain a gaint, hairy bat coming after us!" She whispered loudly, frailing her arms wildly.

"Have you forgotten about Nightmare? I wouldn't be surprised if he made a giant bat along with the cobra that attacked me back home." I muttered at the memory.

"I think it's finally gone." Amberlin said, changing the subject. "Now let's get out of here."

* * *

"Argh!" I grunted in pain, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience being flattened. I shrugged it off, getting to my feet again.

"Ow... You okay Mety?" a high pitched voice asked as she got off me. I nodded, examining our new, new, surroundings.

_I'm starting to hate Nightmare's creations more and more by the second._

"We should get moving, and keep you voice down. That creature back there locates it's prey by sound and sound alone." I warned.

"Uh-huh."

"Then we must hurry, the monster is surely not far behind." I ordered, running towards the nearest tunnel.

"Right!" she whispered, racing after me.

We continued down our path when I sense something coming towards us. Grabbing Nia, we ducked behind a large rock as the bat came flying past, it's talons raking across the in-closed space of the cave.

"Lets go." I commanded, starting into a run again. I made sure to keep my pace slow enough for Nia to follow as we ran. I was surprised by how fast she was capable of going. She was five and already able to keep up with half my usual speed. I peered at her from the corner of my eye, she still had that fire in her eyes from earlier, she reminded me a lot of Tiff. I smiled.

_Humans really are something else, they are weak, but persistent. Maybe it was fate that I ended up here._

We came to a sudden stop at a fork in the path, both diverging into opposite directions. The many possible paths and routes within this cave system was making it into large labyrinth, making it seem less possible to us to find the others. We were going to need some sort of marking to show us which ways we've been and which we haven't. It also needed to be something Jessica and her friends could notice and follow.

I took out Galaxia and began writing in the ground, carving our initials into the stone floor.

"What are you doing?" Nia whispered as I began surrounding them in a circle.

"Drawing a marker. So we don't get lost, and maybe even help lead everyone else in our direction." I said, drawing the arrow above the circle, indicating the path we followed.

"Oh," she said softly as I began walking off in the direction of the arrow.

"No more running?" she asked in a hushed voice. I nodded.

"Yay!" She cheered quietly.

* * *

We walked a five minutes in the dark without speaking a word to each other, trying to keep a look out for "Ahool" I guess we'll call it. It wasn't until we came to a ravine that we came to a complete stop.

"That's a long way down..." I shuddered, just the thought of falling was frightening.

"We shouldn't get to close." warned Amberlin.

"I know, I just wanted to see how many different paths are, and from the looks of it, a lot." I replied.

"And only one of them leads to Meta Knight and the others." Amberlin added hopelessly, placing her hand on her cheek.

"Well if only one of them lead to them..." Natalie paused inhaling deeply. We cringed, realizing when she was gonna do.

"HEY MET-" She mumbled the rest as we quickly covered her mouth.

"Idiot!" I muttered under my breath.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" snapped Amberlin.

"Why won't you let me talk?" She mumbled under our hands.

"She's not serious..." I asked in amazement.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed." Amberlin groaned.

"What?"

"That thing uses it's hearing to hunt down it's prey. That's how it found us the first time!" I told her sternly.

"So if you so much as yell, we're doomed!" Amberlin went on.

"Oh..." Natalie mouthed in embarrassment.

"Come on... We better go, we don't want to risk that thing catching us." I said, pushing the two to a nearby path.

"I'm beginning to think we'll never find them." Natalie uttered quietly after a few minutes.

"Your not the only one..." Amberlin agreed.

"Aw great!" I nearly shouted as we came to a fork in the road.

"Now which way do we go?" Natalie asked, looking to us for an answer. Amberlin shrugged, running out of ideas.

"Huh? Jessica what are you looking at?" They stared down at me while I knelt down on the ground, looking at something.

"Meta Knight and Nia where just here." I answered.

"Whoa! What is it! Footprints!?" They asked in awe.

"Nope... They wrote their initials." I said pointing to the markings on the floor.

"Hehe... We knew that." Natalie tried justifying. I sighed.

"Let's go after them..." I said, trying to ignore the sudden awkwardness between us.

"Ahhhh!"

"That sounded like Frederik." Amberlin announced, staring down the path Meta Knight and Nia had taken. We listened as a loud "Hm" sounded from the tunnel as well. We watched quietly, about to speak when Meta Knight and Nia went running past. We gawked at them as they passed by and looked back down the cave when multiple footsteps drew closer. Frederik and the others came running past too.

"Um guys..." Natalie said nervously, pulling on my arm, still staring into the cave.

_WRYYYYYYYYY!_

"HOLY S-" I yelled, seeing the bat monster appear in the distance.

"RUN!" we shouted, chasing after our friends.

"What did you guys do?!" I shouted to Frederik, catching up to them moments later.

"It's not my fault! Hardwin and Kayla were the ones fighting when it heard us!" he blurted out.

"When on earth will you two stop arguing?"

"I'm getting sick and tired of your crap."

"Now's really not the best time to be criticizing us!" yelled Kayla. The path we took after being chased by the "Ahool" suddenly opened up into the cavern I had woken up in when we first fell down here. I remembered this place because of all the stalactites and stalagmites that poked out from every corner.

"Over here!" Yelled a voice.

Meta Knight and Nia we kneeling behind a large cluster of stalagmites when we came running by. Heeding their advise, we dart towards them, just as the bat entered the place. It flew in a circle around the entire room before loudly landing in the center. I flexed it's large ears trying to find us.

"We need a plan!" exclaimed Hardwin.

"I am very aware, but defeating this monster won't be as easy as the others." Meta Knight informed.

"I got an idea actually," Frederik interrupted.

The bat stood in the center of the cavern scanning it's surrounding with it's large beady eyes. Finding no movement it let our a screen, this time to use it's echo location technique to locate us. It waited patiently as the sound waves traveled through the cavern and returned. It's ear twitched, pointing in our direction.

"Alright then, Kayla give me your sword and stay close to Nia. The rest wait for your signals." I reminded. They nodded in agreement.

I got up from behind the stalagmite and walked into the open, and into the bats sights. I took a deep breath as I swung the two swords together. The sound of crashing metal echoed into the dark, creating a loud _clang!_ that attracted the bats attention.

"Come on you overgrown, flying rat! I'm right here!"

_Clang!_

It screeched, raising it wings in anger and propelling itself towards me, talons and fangs outstretched. I stiffened at the sight of it's razor teeth but continued to clash the swords. I needed it to keep it's attention on me.

_Clang!_

"NOW!"

Just as the talons we about to come into contact with me, Amberlin and Natalie jumped in front of me, deflecting the attacks. Their sudden intrudence in it attack threw of it's flight pattern forcing it to land before them. It stared the three of us down, forgetting about the rest of us as Frederik and Hardwin appeared from behind. They came down from above, stabbing its wings and leaving them stuck to the blades that we now implanted into the earth. The creature was now pinned to the stone floor.

It cried and shook, trying to free it's wings, only to cause itself more pain. A crackle of electricity surged through the air, as it snapped it's head up. The tiny spark briefly lighting up the cave to reveal Meta Knight hiding within the shadows above.

"Sword beam!" he yelled as a brilliant yellow slash of energy was released from the blade. The light engulfed the space entirely as it cut the bat in half, causing a large explosion in it's wake.

_WRYYYY-!_

The bat's cry was cut off as the blast obliterated it before it could finish. Meta Knight swiftly landed next to us as sheath Galaxia.

"You guys had me scared for a moment there. I didn't think you'd cut it so close." I sighed, still thinking about what could have happened if they had been a off by an instant.

"I wouldn't have let get that far." Meta Knight reassured me. I sighed again, that was, somewhat comforting.

_Thud!_

"OW!" I yelled as a rock fell on my head. I looked up to see dust and more small rocks come falling down.

"The cave's collapsing!"

"Quick, get back to the tunnel."

We ran as fast as we could as the ground started shaking again as rock and debris came crashing down behind us. The force of the impacting rocks hurled us through the tunnel as we landed face first onto the unforgiving floor. I shook my head as I tried to peer through the large dust cloud that lingered in the caverns behind us. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth when I was finally able to see.

"Guys!" I called, trying to get them to uncover their eyes. "I see light!"

They looked up. A large gaping hole at the top of the cave could be seen, precious light pouring into the clearing below. The blast from Meta Knight's sword beam must have cause a shock wave that made the roof cave in, and to our luck created a way out as well.

"We can use the rock to climb out!" Amberlin cried happily, running towards the piles of rock that sloped towards the land above.

"Hey wait for us!" yelled Natalie, running after her. A smile no both their faces as one appeared on mine.

"Heh, I guess we should follow them." I said walking towards the light.

"It seems that we ended up on the other side of the mountain." Meta Knight announced, examining the landscape closely.

"What does that mean?" Frederik asked eagerly.

"It means the bat save us a day or two of mountain climbing, which means we should be at our destination in about a day." I answered. They looked to me in excitement, high fiving each other on a job well done.

I looked to Meta Knight, hoping he'd join in on the fun but frowned when I saw how serious he looked. He was looking straight into the setting sun, his eyes flickering from it's usual amber to a dark green. I didn't need to ask to know what was on his mind. I turned in the same direction, certainly thinking the same thing as him.

_What are you planning next Nightmare? _

* * *

**_*Authors note*_**

I have finally done some edits to episodes 1-6 lately and decided to tweak the story a bit in a few places. They don't effect the story at all but they are just there to make the last few chapters bearable. Please don't ridicule me on my bad writing! (T~T) *Sniff*


	8. Episode 8: Before the Storm

Sorry if this chapter doesn't really make sense, I did go a tad insane trying to figure out what I was going to do for this one. O_o

I need to sleep more... v_v

* * *

*Camera suddenly turns on, zooming in on a specific dressing room*

"_META KNIGHT_"

**Jessica**: WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!

**Frederik**: Jessica stop! *Trying to keep her at the door frame*

**Kayla**: Have you gone insane! *helping Frederik while everyone else tries to pull her out*

**Me**: Oh god... What are we going to do now? *staring at Meta Knight*

The knight sat quietly in front of the mirror drawer in the center of the room, reading his script calmly to himself. He took a sip from the cup of tea his assistants had given him and sat it down on the stainless wood, while purposely ignoring the commotion behind him. He hadn't even bothered to turn around when his door was broken down a few seconds ago by Jessica.

**Me**: Come on you guys, quit messing around! The next episode is gonna start any min- *Alex comes in with his clipboard and starts pulling on my shirt* Huh? What is it? *Leans down as he whispers in my ear*

**Alex**: The cameras are rolling... *Points to camera behind me*

**Me**:*panicking* What! *Grabs Alex and starts shaking him* CUT TO THE FOOTAGE! CUT TO THE FOOTAGE!

**Alex**: Al-ll-ll R-ig-ht! Ju-st le-t GO!

*Screen goes black just as Jessica breaks free of everyone's hold and pounces for Meta Knight*

* * *

Episode 8: Before the Storm

"Is he ready yet?" A figure called into the darkness.

"Yes master, he is already proceeding towards the targets as we speak." The figured smiled.

"Good, see to it that all goes as planned." Nightmare turned, waving off his servant before returning to his throne.

"Of course lord Nightmare." The voice answer again, disappearing into the shadows once more.

"Your in for a little treat Meta Knight." He spoke slowly. "Now lets see how confident you and those human pests are once we're through with you." He sat down, laughing loudly for all to hear.

_Now then, let the games... Begin..._

* * *

"Hey! Careful with that. We want to free him, not kill him."

"I know, but it's not as easy as it looks!"

"Hey, um, yeah... still dangling over here!" A voice yelled from below. I looked to Kayla, and then back below. We stood on highest point of a large oak tree, staring down at Frederik from above. Catching my glance, we both carefully began our descent to a lower section of the tree, stopping before an already cracking branch.

"I'd prefer you stay away from ledges for now on, because next time we'll just leave you up here." I muttered to him, cutting the branch he was hanging off of. He landed with a loud _Thud!_ as he got up, dazed but unharmed.

_Crack..._

"Woah!" I gasped as Kayla jerked me off the branch as it came crashing down. She looked down the side of the tree, staring at where it had landed. From the way it fell, it would have crushed me if I had fallen with it. I sighed.

"Thanks Kayla," I said, as she helped me back onto my feet.

"No problem." she replied. Then another voice called to us from the rocky overhang Frederik had fallen off minutes ago.

"You guys okay down there!?" Natalie yelled, a hint of concern in her tone. I could see Amberlin, Hardwin, Meta Knight, and Nia standing right beside her. Her head briefly appearing as she carefully peered over the edge, not wanting to accidentally fall into the trees below. But then again, Frederik was about the only one dumb enough to end up in such a predicament. Even Nia had more common since than him, and she's five.

"Yeah!" I called back, walking out from under the tree. She sighed in relief just as Meta Knight gracefully landed behind me, followed with a soft clang from his armor. Grabbing Nia, Hardwin followed close behind. Then, after a moment's hesitation, Amberlin and Natalie finally brought up the rear.

"So is this where the ship is suppose to be?" Kayla asked, walking up beside Meta Knight. He nodded.

"Yes, these were the coordinates Sword Knight gave me before we left on our journey." I looked at him in confusion, _Wait, when did this happen?_

"When did he tell you that?" I questioned, still trying to recall the conversation we had all shared.

"When you were packing." _Of course..._

"Well, I don't see it," Kayla blurted out impatiently. She scanned the large, grass-less plain in front of us, trying to spot anything unusual in the trees surrounding it. I looked to the south of the plain, eyeing the all the toppled over trees close by.

_It seems whatever it was, it's gone now._

I walked further into the clearing, when I hear Nia.

"Is it back in the tunnels?" I shuddered at the thought. _I don't ever want to go near those damn caves again... Ever._

I looked down on the floor, as saw a few large indents in the smooth rocks surface. They seemed fresh, a bit too fresh. I stepped closer and tried to put my hand in the indents but felt something meet my hand. I took as step back before slowly tracing my hand over the invisible object. I stared wide eyed, both shocked and delighted by the discovery.

_It never left..._

"Hey Meta Knight!" I called to him. He turned away from his conversation with Frederik and walked over.

"What is it Jessica."

"Look at this." I told him, as I hit my hand hard against the invisible object, making a soft, hollow bang as I withdrew my hand in pain. _Okay, maybe that was a little too hard._

"Hm..." He hummed quietly, stretching his hand and placing in on what seemed to be a metallic surface. He walked along it's perimeter, still tracing until it seemed he had found what his was looking for.

I saw his hand close around something as he stood further down the massive clearing. With a sharp pull, followed by the sound of ripping wires, a small metallic disk become visible in his glove. Electricity soon sparked at the ends of the ripped wire as something in front of him began to short circuit. Within seconds, gleaming, silver metal started to appear, as if a drape above it was being pulled off. We all stared as we came face to face with a two story spaceship.

"Cloaking device..." Meta Knight analyzed, still examining the metal disk in his hand.

The ships figure resembled that of a Destroya except for the two box shaped thrusters that were attached to it's rear and the two side wings that looped around it. Its size was five times larger than any modern day plane we humans have, and was twice it's width. How something that big was managed to stay hidden for this long was mind numbing.

I stood there awing at the ship, lost in thought when I hear a swoosh come from one of the ships ends. I turned around just in time to see Meta Knight walk into the ship. We all gave each other a nervous glance before we decided to go after him.

The interior was almost as breath taking as the exterior. The hallways were all lined in metallic plating, while the floor looked to be made out of a smoother metal. The walls were a faint light blue with pale grey flooring.

We continued slowly down the dark hallway, the lights above us emanating no light what so ever. The dark posing a challenge while trying to find Meta Knight.

We passed by hundreds of corridors in the dark before we finally caught up to him. He stood in front a room with two large, sealed doors. We watched as he fumbled with a mini control panel next to it before finally giving up and pried it open with Galaxia.

We stepped into the engine room, finding two inactive power reactors. Wires and various other machinery surrounded them, all of these also inactive. I walked carefully over the random power cables on the floor, trying to get a closer look at the alien technology in front of me.

Meta Knight stood at the rooms entrance, ignoring us humans as he made his way to wall panel and opened it. The panel revealed hundreds of other cables and switches apart from those already visible in the room. He looked at them carefully, trying to decipher what each controlled when suddenly the lights turned on.

Meta Knight stepped away from the open panel in surprise and spun around. We all shared his shock when we saw Amberlin closing a second panel from across the room while cleaning her hands in her shirt. She looked up from her hands and saw our stares.

"What?" She asked, expressing her confusion as she quickly looked over her shoulder to make sure there wasn't ghost or anything before meeting our gazes again. We continued to stare, until Natalie finally broke the awkward silence.

"Did **you** turn on the lights?" She asked. Amberlin nodded, now lost by the sudden question.

"Something wrong?" Amberlin asked again.

"How did you do that?" Kayla asked, only just getting over her shock.

"What? All I did was reroute a few power cables and jump started the engine. Now we should have some power going to the lights and doors." We all looked at her as if she had just spoken a foreign language.

"**Where** did you learn to do that?" Meta Knight questioned, eyes turning green while he tried to find a probable answer on his own.

"I'm used to help my dad fix cars and stuff when I was younger. I guess a few things stuck." She laughed nervously.

"Wow. So your a genius AND a mechanic. I'm impressed." I said, ending their little interrogation before things became any more uncomfortable.

"You could say that." She smiled shyly.

"Excuse me."

"Meta, where are you going?" I heard Nia ask as she moved to one side, allowing the Knight to exit the room. He didn't answer her question.

"Where's he going?"

"I don't know Frederik, but I guess we better follow him." I answered quietly, already in pursuit.

We followed him into another room located on the second floor. It was a large circular room with many computer monitors and control panels covering every inch of it. The largest was in the center. Meta Knight was already in front of it, punching in a list of commands.

_The bridge_, I identified, as I walked up to him.

"I should have known..." he murmured to himself as a bunch of charts and numbers appeared on the screen.

"What happened?" I asked, leaning against the dashboard. He kept his attention to screen.

"The ship's main engine was heavily damaged when it entered the Earths atmosphere, from what I can tell it will take a week before it can fly again." An virtual assessment of the space crafts's damages showed up on screen as he spoke, further proving his point._ A week..._, I thought disappointingly.

"I guess we better get out of you hair then," I replied, heading towards the exit. "We'll let you finish examining the ship in peace." I told everyone to follow me out of the room as Meta Knight shot me a grateful nod.

"So what now?" Kayla asked, no longer attempting to hide her boredom. I could see the same expression on all their faces, except for Hardwin, who just didn't seem to care.

"Huh... I guess we could go explore the rest of the ship." I suggested. They nodded, seemingly pleased by the idea.

"How about we go in teams! That way we'll be able to see more of the ship before Meta Knight calls for us again." Added Natalie, already grabbing Amberlin and Kayla by the arm.

"I go with Hardwin!" Nia announced happily, latching onto his leg. He sighed, knowing that his protests would lead him nowhere.

"And I'll go with Jessica!" Frederik sang, putting his arm around my waist. Something in my mind snapped.

_Smack!_

"Make a move on me again and I swear to Nova it'll be the last thing you ever do!" I growled.

He fell back from the force of the punch, eyes wide in shock. His left cheek already becoming swollen from where my fist had hit him. Everyone eyed us in horror as I walked away, leaving Frederik twitching on the floor in pain.

A few minutes later, I found myself wondering the lower levels of the ship. I didn't pay much attention to the different rooms as I passed by though, I was still mad at Frederik.

_Damn idiot, always trying to hit on me. He's really starting to get on my nerves. I sighed. Though I can't really do anything about it, so I'll have to try my best and ignore him. Hopefully he'll survive the week..._ Then a random thought popped into my mind.

_Hm... What are the chances I might actually give him a chance when all this is over..._

...

"Zero..." I said out loud, annoyed by the mental image I had just conjured up._ Huh... I really hope he figures that out soon, I don't think he'll survive another punch._

Two large doors down a separate hallway caught my attention as I walked up to them. The doors automatically slid open, now that the power was back on. _Wow, guess Amberlin really does know her stuff_, I thought, still impressed.

I walked into the storage room where there were mountains upon mountains of creates as far as I could see were piled up. The room had not lights so I left the doors behind me open, allowing the light from the hallway to brighten up the room slightly.

Usually I would have been reluctant to walk into rooms like this: large, dark, and abandoned, but with all the stuff I've been through recently, I've finally gotten over those fears. A month ago, I would have jumped at every little noise, but now I found the silence calming.

I looked inside a few of the creates, most of them full of spices and dried foods. Others were full with luxury or personal items.

_This ship must have belonged to a poor wealthy family who just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time... Hopefully it wasn't like that and Nightmare's monsters just stole their ship while they were away or something._

I opened another create, and gave it a quick glance before almost heading to the next. _Wait a minute! Was that..._

I turned back to the create I had opened and squinted hard through the dark, trying make out it's full contents. I reached deep into the box until something soft and silky touched my hand. My fingers clasped around it and pulled it out. _Fabric! This could prove useful later on..._

_Step._

_Someone's here!_ I narrowed my eyes at the creates behind me as I walked towards them. I could sense someone behind them as I got closer. Then my eyes widened in surprise. Oh no, please don't tell me. I softened my stare and sighed in annoyance, walking up to the create.

"Boo-"

_Pow!_

"Honestly Frederik, do you not get tired of getting your ass kicked?" I retorted.

"Sorry, couldn't help it." he replied, rubbing his cheek. "Hey? Where are you going?" I stopped at the doorway but didn't turn to look at him. I could feel his stare on my back. Trying to keep myself from killing him, I ignored him and left, heading for the bridge.

"Oh, hey Jessica. Find anything?" I heard Natalie call from somewhere. I rounded the corner and came face to face with the three of them. They could tell I was in a bad mood.

"Yeah, I found a storage room with a bunch of stuff. Seems like this ship belonged to a rich family before Nightmare's creations stole it." I summed up. " What about you guys?"

"Well, your right about them being rich, the ships got it's own spa and hospital wards." Natalie announced, her eyes shining brightly at the word "Spa". I had to suppress a laugh at her remark, but managed to smile instead._ Well it's good to know you've at least got your priorities straight..._

The four of us continued to talk while we walked back to the bridge. We cracked a joke or two about Natalie's urge to drop everything and just run straight for spa. It irritated her at first but surprisingly joined in after a while. My bad mood becoming nothing but a bad memory when we arrived back at the bridge. Hardwin and Nia were already there.

"Hi guys!" Nia greeted cheerfully, but seemingly more energetic that usual. Then I saw Hardwin sitting in a chair behind her, his head rolling off to one side as he began to doze off. I gave a small chuckle, _Guess Nia can find a way to tire __**anyone**__ out._

"What?" She asked innocently, not noticing Hardwin in the chair behind her, when she turned around trying to follow our stares. "Oh." She silently walked up next to him and inhaled deeply.

"HARDWIN! WAKE UP!" She screamed in his ear, causing him to fall out of his seat.

"AH!-" _Crash._

Amberlin, Kayla, Natalie, and me were all snickering at him, while Nia still held her wide, innocent smile. I could also see Meta Knight watching us from the corner of my eye. His amber eyes glowing a faint pink.

After a few seconds, Hardwin finally managed to sit up slowly. I could tell from the silent intent to kill in his eyes that he wasn't very pleased at all. Nia noticed this too.

"Uh, sorry!" Nia quickly apologized. He stared at her for a moment, not so sure she meant it or not. He sighed, getting to his feet.

"It's alright." he muttered. We all sighed in relief.

"Huh? Jessica, whats wrong?" Amberlin asked, noticing my smile had turned into a frown. I gritted my teeth.

"Somethings close..." I said softly as dark energy passed over me. I turned to Meta Knight as he gave me a small nod. He then jumped off the small platform from which he stood and quickly made his way to the door.

"Let's go!" he called, rushing past.

"Right!" I said, running after him. The energy I felt was making me uneasy, it reminded me a lot of the monster that killed Felix. Only this time the energy felt stronger, and I could tell Meta Knight sensed it as well.

"Wait for us!" I heard the others call from behind, struggling to keep up with our speed.

"Oh, hi Meta Kni-" Was all Frederik could say as we zoomed past him. He stood there confused as the others ran past. "Uh, guys?" he yelled, catching up with the others in the back. "What's going on?" he pressed.

"Somethings outside the ship, and it's close by!" Amberlin explained. Frederik's expression became serious, slightly quickening his pace as we ran.

We slid to a halt just yards away from the ship, facing the woods behind it. I watched carefully for any movement, remembering all too well how one of our past enemies had attacked us from the safety of the trees. That's something I didn't want to repeat.

_Hiss..._

The creature hissed as it emerged from the dense trees, stomping it's hoof on the ground. Boney armor covered the lower halves of it's legs, and upper chest. The black hair traveling from it's neck to it's back stood up like spikes, overlaying the dark brown fur that covered the rest of it's body. Two large horns poked out from it's head, curving down the side of it's head, resembling those of rams.

_Great, now we have to fight a demonic deer..._

It's red eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as it eyed us. It's eyes flickering between all of us but kept redirecting it's gaze back to Meta Knight. Drops of drool fell from it's exposed fangs, sending shivers down my spine.

"Careful, this is no ordinary monster. Even I don't know what makes it special." Meta Knight warned us. _I looked to him nervously, I don't think I want to find out what makes him so different._

"Get ready, here he comes." He warned again.

"Look out!"

* * *

Whoa, what do you think could be the Demonic Deer's secret and what does Nightmare have planned for out heros? Find out int he next Episode!

* Sorry for the long wait but I knew this chapter was going to give a hard time. I'm not exactly good at creating casual scenes with only talking and stuff so I kind of put it off till now. I kind of slammed my head against the wall trying to come up with a good story while the monster arrived. The next episode should come out quickly, I hope at least.


	9. Episode 9: Betrayal Pt1

Episode 9: Betrayal Part 1

"Look out!"

We all managed to dodge the creature's attack as the ground where we once stood crumbled under it's weight. I watched as the humans scattered in their own directions, both awed and shocked by the beast's strength. I jumped away from the scramble, pulling Nia with me to make sure no harm would befall the child while her friends fought. There was something... odd about this creature that I could not yet determine.

From nearby the ship, we watched as the monster turned its attention to Jessica, who had mistakenly jumped in the opposite direction of the others. She looked up to the deer in slight fear, only just managing to pull out her katana to defend against its mighty horns. Its impressive speed and strength caught her off guard as it pushed her closer to a cliff side.

Unaware that she was being cornered, she knocked away the demon's horns with a desperate swipe of her sword and back away. Right into the rock wall behind. I saw her eyes widened in shock as she realized she was trapped. The monster taking advantage of this, lunged for the girl, planning to crush her between the wall and itself. A second before realizing its plan, Jessica threw her body to the side, rolling out of the deer's path as it crashed into the rock side.

She rolled a moment longer before attempting to get back to her feet. While she was doing so, Natalie and Amberlin, noticing she was now in a tight situation unsheathed their swords and rushed to her aid. The monster, horns still trapped between the boulders, noticed the two and kicked up its hind legs and hit them square in their chests. Jessica looked up in horror as the two were kicked high into the air, both landing with a sickening thud twenty yards away.

"Natalie! Amberlin!" she screamed in shock when her body tensed up as she saw the deer finally break free from the rock's hold, it's nostrils flaring in anger. Soon the two were fighting again, the demon slowly overpowering her as the fight dragged on. Blocking everyone of her attacks as it began pushing her back once more.

Jerking its head up in a sudden motion, it knocked the blade right out of her hand, disarming her instantly. Using the distraction, the demon shot forward, its jagged teeth inching closer towards Jessica's unprotected arm while she tried to settle the waves panic she felt within. Using her other arm, she struck the beast in its face, quickly retracting her arm from its closing jaws moments before they could rip through flesh.

She jumped back and balanced herself on one hand as she kicked her leg forward, attempting to land another blow on the stunned deer. Regaining its senses, it tilted its head slightly to the left, allowing her foot to fly harmlessly by. She _Tsk-_ed in frustration as she retrieved her weapon.

Across the clearing, Hardwin, Kayla, and Frederik were tending to their unconscious friends. They glanced towards the two fighting as they tried to awaken them. The three looked to each other in silent determination, silently agreeing to something I could not hear.

Darting past Kayla and Frederik, Hardwin with his sword withdrawn, charged towards the beast while it was still occupied with Jessica. Its eyes flicked to the side as it saw his approach and leaped away just as his blade collided with his ally's. She looked to him in surprise, caught off guard by his sudden intrusion in the battle. She was about to speak when the growing shadow above them stopped her.

"Move!" She shouted to Hardwin as she slammed her body into his, sending them both tumbling onto the ground as the deer crushed the land behind them. They quickly covered their eyes, shielding themselves from the powerful wave of debris that followed.

Two shadowy figures from the edge of the clearing then jumped into the veil and ran towards the deer while its sight was temporarily obscured. I lost sight of them as they disappeared deeper into the cloud.

_Crack! Crumble! Snap!_

Loud cracks sounded from within the cloud as large rock pillars shot out from the earth. Two of these collided with the figures, hurling them into the air as they yelled in pain. The force of the impact sending them crashing down beside Jessica and Hardwin.

"Frederik! Kayla!" Jessica yelled next to them. "Hey!Wake up!" Hardwin shouted as well. They began to stir.

"We're okay... Just got the wind knocked out of us."Frederik coughed out.

"We're good for one more round." Kayla replied.

"Count us in as well!" Amberlin called weakly, as she and Natalie slowly walked up to them.

"Meta Knight! Help them." Nia begged besides me. I thought for a moment, trying to find a way to explain the situation to her.

"I'm sorry Nia, but I can not interfere unless we know exactly what we're up against. This monster is not what it appears to be." I told her. She looked at me with teary eyes and then sadly nodded in understanding._ If I were to interfere now, it is possible that I might endanger their lives rather than their chances of victory. At this point, all I can do is watch till it is absolutely necessary for me to step in._

"We've got to attack that thing together, up until now we've just been attacking it separately. See if you guys can get it up in the air, and then leave the rest to me." she told them. They seemed uncertain about the the plan, but agreed anyway.

"You sure about this?" Frederik asked. She gave a small smile.

"Yeah." She replied, confident of her own capabilities. "Now lets go, that thing is sure get it's sight back any second now." And with that, they disbursed again.

Five humans remained in the plain, surrounding the demon as its sight returned. It watched them cautiously, not yet noting Jessica's disappearance.

They all sprinted forward. The monster, anticipating this, leaped into the air again, laughing silently at the slow humans below.

"Guess again." The deer stiffened in midair, turning around to see Jessica in the air behind it.

"How about next time you do a head count before you begin to celebrate!" She snarled, lunging for its unprotected throat.

She swung her sword to change her bodies direction, swinging towards her target, but instead swung too early. The flaw in her timing sent her veering slightly to the left, opposed to the right she was aiming for. The mistake making her attack now easy to dodge, even from close range. She flew forward, expecting to miss miserably... but gasped in shock when it didn't. Both our eyes went wide in surprise as her blade ripped through its neck, its foul blood spilling everywhere. _Somethings not right._

She landed hard on her feet beside the monsters corpse, panting in exhaustion. She stared down at the monster, her body still trying to recover from the fall. Then without her notice, I saw something move from underneath the deer. _No... It couldn't be._

"Nia get to the ship, NOW" She stared at me for a second before hurrying towards the craft. I turned my gaze back to the demon's body.

"Jessica! Get away from it!" I shouted as loud as I could.

* * *

I stared down at the monster, my legs still kind of shaky from the heavy landing. I glared at the fatal wound on its throat, still stunned at I had managed to hit the demon even after messing up. It seemed just too easy after the beating it gave us.

"Jessica! Get away from it!" My head shot up, startled by Meta Knight's sudden command. I leaped away, back-flipping onto my hands just as a black shadow emerged from the corpse. It flew through the air, vanishing into the spot I had stood on moments ago, missing me by a inch. _What is that thing!_

"Whatever you do, do not let that shadow touch you." Meta Knight shouted to all of us as Galaxia formed within his hand.

"What is it- Meta Knight tell us what it is!" I yelled at him, he remained quite for a second while we all regrouped around him.

"It is one of Nightmares strongest and most dangerous creations. Its name is Betrayal, Erasem's much more destructive twin."

"What do you mean by much more destructive twin?" I asked him, not sure if I wanted to know.

"Just like his sister, he possesses similar powers, but instead of erasing his hosts existence, he erases all their emotions and memory until only hatred and anger remain." I gulped, trying to keep an eye on the floor as the shadow raced around us, trying to single out it's next victim.

"I-is there any way to remove it? Like Erasem?" He stared back at me gravely and then to the deer's mangled body. I could guess his response._ So if Betrayal catches you... your as good as dead._

"_Hehehe_!"

We screamed as Betrayal leaped into the air and dived past us, disappearing into the floor again, like a shark in water, simply waiting us out.

"What are we going to do!?" Natalie cried, biting her lip in desperation. Amberlin eyes darted back and forth, trying to come up with some in-genius plan to save our hides.

"Huh- Ahh!" Kayla screamed, jumping to one side with the others as Betrayal darted past us again, but this time I was too slow.

Everything suddenly moved in slow motion as I was left falling back on the ball of my foot with Betrayal only feet from where I was. My heart stopped at the sight of him, to scared to think or move out of the way. Then all of a sudden I felt a hand close around my wrist, pulling me away and hurling me far into the distance towards the others.

I opened my eyes to see Meta Knight and Betrayal in the middle of the clearing. Galaxia radiating large amounts of yellow energy as he swung at the monster. The yellow rays enveloped them, exploding as a result of an incomplete sword beam.

"Meta Knight!" I yelled in horror as smoke instantly engulfed the clearing. I strained to see through the smog, desperate to see if he was alright. I could hear the others hacking and coughing behind me. "Meta Knight!" I called again. The smoke began to lift allowing us to see each other as least while we waited for the rest to clear.

I held my breath, frightened that I might see an badly injured knight. Though he might be one of the strongest warriors in the universe, a misfire from that range could still be devastating to the user.

"Meta Kn-" I tried to call again but trailed of as his figure began to show from within the smoke. I exhaled in relief to see he was still standing.

My heart froze.

He slowly turned around, Galaxia still in his hand, to face us. He stood unfazed and still.

"Meta Knight?" I breathed. A pair of blood red eyes glared at us in response.

* * *

O.O

Omg, Meta Knight, what did I do to you! I'm Sorry! Plz don't kill me! DX  
Don't worry, I'll turn him back to normal! Um... Nvm I think I only made him even angrier. So okay, the next chapter should be out after a day or two followed by a spin off of the series and maybe some bloopers, review or PM me if you have any ideas and... I guess I'll be seeing you some time soon.  
Um... He does really seem angry so I guess that my cue to leave!

*PS: If you see text shown as the following- "_Text_" It means that it's suppose to be a voice that no one can find the source of, either echos, or is a very loud voice in your head and does not belong to you. Everyone understand? Yes, no, maybe?  
0.o Guess I'll leave now. Oh and find out what happens to Meta Knight in the next episode!


	10. Episode 10: Betrayal Pt2

Episode 10: Betrayal Part 2

"Meta Knight?" I gasped, my breath caught in my chest. Two red eyes glared at me in response. I stood there completely frozen in fear.

"_It's too late child_."

I spun around as quickly as I could just as Meta Knight's shadowy figure disappeared. I shook in terror when those paralyzing red eyes were suddenly behind me. I was too slow to react when his metal shoe kicked me in the stomach.

I screamed as I was lunched into a rock wall across the clearing. My back arched up in pain as the sharp rock dug deeply into my skin. I fell, gasping desperately for air as puddles of blood began to form beneath me. The world around me started to fade as I fought to stay awake.

"_Your beloved mentor is now completely in my eternal grasp._" I looked up at him in hate, only able to see his clouded figure.

"You bastard!" Frederik yelled in rage, charging blindly towards Meta Knight. It was clear that he did not realize the massive difference in power between the two of them.

"No- Frederik don't!" I pleaded, my voice nothing but a whisper, unable to reach him. His blade collided with the sacred sword, trying to disarm him in one quick motion. The knight jumped back and propelled himself towards the human again, flying past him in an instant. They stood there motionless until Frederik's eyes widened in shock. He crumbled to the ground as blood gushed out of his shoulder. Specks of crimson staining Galaxia's blade.

_No..._ I thought in disbelief, _out of everyone it could have possessed, it had to choose him..._

I struggled to sit up while my weak hands slipped on the red ground. The others stared, horrified by what had happened. Was there really any hope of winning now that Meta Knight is under Betrayal's control?

I watched helplessly as they sprang forward, hopeful that they could use team work, like in previous battles, to win. Amberlin stepped in front of the others, stabbing forth her sword, as the knight easily avoided it. He jumped up into the air and lightly kicked her forward, making her lose her balance as she stumbled into the floor. Kayla and Natalie, following Amberlin's lead, came at him from the sides. Landing quietly on his feet, he raise Galaxia, blocking both of their attacks before deflecting them.

Then he suddenly darted towards Natalie as she fell back and grabbed her by the leg. She yelled as she was flung at Kayla. The two crashed into each other, slamming onto the ground while Meta Knight repeated the process with Hardwin.

After a few agonizing seconds the remaining four of the five humans were back on their feet, determined to win no matter what. They surrounded him, planning out their next move before lunging for him again.

_Crackle._

Small sparks began to spring from his sword, causing the others to stiffen. My heart stopped when I saw they were also traveling around his body. "It can't be..." I whispered at the realization. "Everyone! Get away from him!" I screamed at the top of my lungs hoping they would obey, but it was too late.

A Mach Tornado soon ripped through the clearing, sending everyone in it's way into the air. They cried in pain as they were cut deeply by his blade multiple times before finally landing with a loud _Thud_. I pounded on the ground in frustration, my legs still unresponsive enough to prevent me from helping.

They laid there, all in the same hurt manner as me, unable to get up. They all watched as his emotionless red eyes stared back at them. He took a step forward.

"Stop!" Cried a small fragile voice. Nia ran out in front of her friends, spreading her arms out at her side. She was using herself as a human shield. "Please Meta Knight... Don't hurt them." She begged. Small sorrowful tears dripped down her face. "Please stop it... Please don't listen to that monster!"

"_He can't hear you young one...He doesn't even remember your face anymore_."

She gasped in shock as more tears rolled down her cheeks. She watched as Meta Knight stopped and tightened his grip on his sword as he concentrated his energy into the blade. I could see the fear in her eyes but she stood her ground. _Get the hell up_! I commanded my weak limbs. _I have to get up before-_

"_Goodbye human_."

With a long wave of Galaxia, a large sword beam emerged. She stood there paralyzed as it came closer, it's powerful energy causing the ground to crack under it as it passed by. Suddenly, Nia found herself falling to one side. Hardwin had dived protectively in front of her, pulling her into an embrace, the weight of his body pulling them to the side. They both fell as the sword beam hit the ground behind them, the blast tossing them and the others further from the clearing.

"Nia..." Hardwin breathed, coughing from the smoke that surrounded them. He looked around for the girl, getting to his knees slightly. Nia laid unconscious a few feet across from him. She was battered and bruised from the blast, though Hardwin had been the one to take most of the damage. He dragged his body over to her, more concerned for the girl than any of his current injuries. He was inches from her when his body finally gave up on him. He tried to call out to her as he started to slip out of consciousness, but all that came out was an inaudible huff.

"How could you?" I snarled at the knight. "How could you hurt an innocent girl? She's got nothing to do with this war!" I glared at him with more hostility I have ever shown anyone in my whole life. I could feel Betrayal smirking from within Meta Knight's body.

"_My task is to eliminate all humans and she is indeed a human. And as it would seem, I've missed one_." He spoke, motioning to me as propped myself up with my sword.

I continued to glare, finally on my feet. I outstretched my arm and raised the sword in front of me. The silver blade glittered before me. _With this sword, the one you sought fit to give me, I promise to stop Betrayal... even if it mean cutting you down as well, Meta Knight_. _If it means saving everyone else._

"I won't let you win, even if it means losing my life. I promise to stop both you and Nightmare!" I vowed. He chuckled at my outburst.

"_Then I shall break that promise_."

He disappeared from my sights again, but this time I was ready. I spun around and stopped his blade in it's tracks as he reappeared behind me. _I won't fall for that trick again_. I raised my leg for a kick when he broke away and swiftly dodged it. He seemed baffled by something.

"Whats wrong? I thought you were going to 'break my promise'" I mocked. He didn't answer. My lip curved up in a slight smile._ He never thought I'd be able to counter his attacks let alone read them. Well it's not my fault I remembered his attacks from the spars we had back home._

His red eyes grew brighter as he lunged forward. I threw my sword in front of me to deflect it, keeping my neck and chest protected. _He may have control over Meta Knight's mind, but he's still got his killer instincts._

He ran behind me again as our weapons clashed once more. I stepped back as he tried to get me with another fatal kick but narrowly avoided it.

_Cough!_

Bits of blood rolled down my chin and into my hand as I froze. I carefully looked away from the knight to glance at the red. There was still an immense pain in my stomach from the kick I had received earlier. _Damn these injuries!_

"_What's wrong human. A little hurt are we_?"

"No. Just getting warmed up." I spat back wiping away the blood. His body shook as he snickered silently to himself. He vanished. I whirled around, ready to counter his attack but found my blade meet nothing but air.

_Slice!_

Blood erupted from a gash just above my right ankle and onto the floor. I stumbled back in shock. _What just happened. That's not one Meta Knight's usual attacks..._ unless. I glared angrily at him as more blood from my ankle flowed down to the ground. _You've been going easy on me from the beginning, huh, Meta Knight._

_Slash!_

Soon I was surrounded in yellow as Galaxia's blurred figure sliced through my skin from all directions. I was trapped. His sword too fast to avoid fully. I fought to suppress the screams in pain that had built up in my chest. I tried to see through the barrage of blades to find my attacker and saw a small shadow to my left. I punched the air in front of me in desperation, expecting to hit nothing when my fist crashed into his metal mask. He flew back in surprise, but not before cutting me right above my eye.

I jumped back as well, nearly falling over when I landed on my injured ankle. My vision was half obscured as my right eye was soon blinded by bright crimson. If the fight dragged on any longer, I'll most likely bleed to death before the final slash from his sword.

"_Let's end this now, human. Simply accept your faith_."

"Never."

"_Very well_"

We both stood at opposite ends of the field, staring intensely at the other. I gripped the handle of my sword firmly, my palms wet in fear. Could I really do this? Could I really hurt my mentor? My friend? My heart went heavy, I felt horrible inside.

I stood up straight, and pointed my blade at the knight as he did the same. _Concentrate all of your remaining energy to where you most need it_, I told myself. I looked directly into his red eyes, seeing nothing but pure blood lust. This would be the deciding blow...

We both sprinted forward at speeds at would look like blurs to the untrained eye. Both our weapons out-stretched. Soon there would be a victor...

_I'm sorry..._

* * *

SO sorry you guys for making you wait this long and for worse leaving off this episode in a cliffhanger. Again, I will accept any punishment from you guys after words okay? Plus I will no longer make anymore promises I know I will not keep, so please bear with me.

Oh and for anyone wondering about the opening skits in the beginning of episodes, they will be discontinued until short notice. It seems that while trying to catch Meta Knight, Jessica broke every last one of our cameras so... Yeah. Please review and comment your thoughts of the chapter, I'm starting to feel rather neglected D:

Okay well that's it for now, see you soon hopefully! Might not since I have to do my summer homework now but hopefully I'll be done in a few days.


	11. Episode 11: Forgiveness

Episode 11: Forgiveness

_I'm sorry..._

We stood in the middle of the clearing, unmoving. I looked down at the knight, his red eyes still staring in the same place as before. He didn't utter a sound.

His grip around his golden blade loosened, eyes reverted back to their normal amber as they faded into a dark orange. He fell back slowly, his cape flowing silently in the wind.

I remained where I was, my arms fixated to where they were, along with the sword they held. The hilt was still pointed downward, the blade resting on my shoulder. Still in the same position it was in when it had left a dent in his mask.

_Clang._

My hands released their hold on the metal, allowing it to fall from my fingers and onto the cold floor. The ringing of the falling sword echoed throughout the clearing. A soft breeze swept through the opening, wiping away the long strands of black hair that had fallen down on my face, revealing two pained eyes.

"I'm sorry... But I couldn't do it." I whispered to him.

_Drip... Drip..._

_Drip.._

Three drops of red fell onto his mask, followed by others that fell onto the ground next to him. The clouds above finally parting, shedding light on our darkened figures. I looked up at sky, finding it slightly funny that I hadn't notice them during the battle. I forced a smile and looked down at my fallen mentor.

"You... always hit your target... don't you, Meta Knight."

I locked my hand around Galaxia's handle, streams of blood oozing down it's blade. I cringed in pain as I removed it from my abdomen and dropped to the floor as well. It fell with a clink as it landed on top of my discarded blade. Blood flowed down my lips.

My knees buckled, my now numbed body finally giving itself over to gravity as I too fell. I was too weak to register any pain now. I watched as everything around me began to dim, consumed by mist. I sighed heavily.

In the distance I could see my comrades, who were beginning to stir and awaken. One in particular got up and looked around, noticing the destruction around him. He looked around desperately for something or someone. He froze when his wide eyes fell on me. I could see him running, despite his injuries, calling out someone's name. A name I could no longer hear. Behind him, the others shared the same stunned expression. Giving up to the darkness that clouded my vision, I smiled, allowing everything to go fade.

_Thank goodness your all okay..._ Was all I could remember thinking before everything went black.

* * *

He began to stir, stopping at the sharp pain in his left temple. He opened his eyes and stared into a brightly lit room, under white florescent lights. He moved slightly and noticed he was laying in a white bed. He sat up.

"Your awake!" Cried an excited voice beside him. He turned around and found a pink haired child sitting in a chair beside him. He looked at her, slightly stunned by what he saw.

Her clothes were filthier than they usually were and she was now covered in bandages. She had one large, uncovered bruise on her arm with many scrapes as well. Yet she still had the strength to smile. He looked away from her, taking a better look at his surrounding.

They were in a pure white room, everything from the floor to the walls the bright, pure color. There were lines and lines of cabinets alone the walls across from him but there were no windows. He took a minute to think to himself before finally coming to a conclusion.

_I'm in the medical ward, but why... What has happened._

"Nia." He hesitated, unsure on how to ask. "What happened."

He looked back to the child as he placed one gloved hand on the side of his head. He nearly flinched in surprise when he felt a large dent at the side of it. The girl didn't reply at first, her expression as mixture of sadness and fear. She held her breath as he awaited a response. She finally looked up at him, tears treating to overflow as she spoke.

"You hurt everyone." She whispered, looking at the bruises on her arm before continuing. "You hurt all of us, but... you hurt Jessica more." She sniffled, fighting back tears. At that moment, everything seemed to click within his mind.

_What have I done?_

"How is she?" He choked out, fearful of what answer he would receive. He gripped the white sheets covering his feet tightly. The girl looked down at the floor, allowing one sorrowful tear fall.

"Bad." She replied, looking away from the knight's gaze. He looked at his hands, horrified by what they had done under the demon's control. His breath caught at the sight of his beloved sword,Galaxia, on the bedside stand beside him. It had been cleaned, and was now shining brightly under the florescent lights as if it had not committed any of those shameful actions. Almost as if it were stating it's innocence.

He jumped to his feel and hopped off the bed, heading for the door. Nia stop him. She put her back towards the door and faced him.

"No, your hurt." she argued, not sure on what to do. He assessed the situation calmly. He need to see the others, but he did not want to hurt the girls feelings.

"I'm alright." he assured her. She put on a stern face.

"No," She replied flatly. He stared at her for a moment, devising a plan.

"Fine." he muttered, retreating towards the bed again. She looked at him in surprise, amazed she had won the argument. Seeing him hope back on the mattress, the girl relaxed and returned to her place beside the bed. She had only just sat down when the knight darted past her and through the doorway.

"Mety!" she yelled in disbelief, pounding on the metal doors that had closed behind him.

He sped down the halls, keeping an open ear out for the humans, where ever they may be. He needed to talk to them, he need answers. More importantly, he needed to speak with Jessica. And worse of all, he had broken a sacred promise to himself.

"Frederik, calm down!" he heard a voice shout from nearby. He stopped and listened. He wanted to know what they were arguing about.

"How do you want me to calm down! When she's all battered up like that. She hasn't even woken up yet!" He wailed. Guilt began to swell up in Meta Knight, he felt at fault for what happened. Could he really face them now, after all the damage he caused.

"Shut up! She's our friend too, don't you think we're all suffering, seeing her like that? Yet your the only one acting like a child." There was silence.

_Whoosh._

The door slid open, revealing Meta Knight at the doorway. They all looked at him in shock and terror, but soon returned to their previous pained expressions. All except Frederik, who watched the knight from the corner of the room in hate. He lunged forward but Hardwin and Kayla reached out and stopped him.

"Let go of me!" He hissed at them. They pulled him back, maintaining their grip on his shoulders.

"It's not his fault!" They yelled in his ear, he struggled to get free. "We know your mad and you want to make whoever did this to her pay, but IT WASN'T HIS FAULT!" They continued, pushing him to his knees. He hunched over, pounding his fist into the metal floor in anger as they released him.

"How are you feeling Meta Knight." Amberlin asked calmly. Her calmness dumbfounded him, how could she be so sure it was him and not Betrayal. He was still digesting the information Nia had been so kind as to share with him.

"Well." His answer blankly. "What happened?" They exchanged a worried glance and thought carefully for a moment before responding.

"How much do you already know?" He looked at Kayla, asking himself what she meant by 'already know' but nodded.

"I have no recollection of what occurred this afternoon. Nia told me I had injured each and everyone of you. Especially... Jessica." He forced himself to say her name. The others noticed.

"All that's true... after you saved Jessica from Betrayal, you got possessed in her place. You attacked her and took us all out like we were nothing. You even got Nia when she jumped into the fight to try and stop you." Natalie stopped talking and fell silent, trying to recall what happened next. She shook her head in frustration.

"We don't really know what happened next but when we woke up, both of you were out-cold. Jessica was..." She trailed off. She didn't have to say anything else, they all knew he had already come to the same conclusion.

"It was like one of those horror video games... Where you best friend turns out to be the final boss." They all looked down, staring at Frederik. He remained where he sat on the floor but hugged his knees. He still showed signs of anger but he had a least calmed down slightly.

"And Betrayal?" They gave another uncertain glance before answering again.

"No one knows. We found a machine in another room that's suppose to check for any foreign pathogens or entities in a person's body, and when we used it on you, it turned up blank." Amberlin said, getting a confirmation from Kayla. "I guess he got away."

He narrowed his eyes behind the mask, that seemed almost impossible to believe.

_Betrayal is a monster who doesn't simply disappear, no matter the situation._

He let the thought simmer a bit before dropping it, returning to another question he wanted to ask.

"Where is she?" Frederik looked up from the floor and stared at him coldly, then to the door behind. Kayla sighed and walked towards the keypad next to it.

"She's in here." She said as the door opened. Everyone followed her inside.

She laid in the white bed, her face pale from the loss of blood. A casted left arm resting on her bandaged chest and abdomen. Beside her was a tray with a large water bowl, filled with used medical tools and bloody bandages. She was breathing heavily.

The knight looked at her, eyes stopping at the red that had soaked through the tight wrap around her belly. He stiffened, recognizing the wound instantly.

He looked at his own hand in disgust, unknown to the others from behind the mask. The situation brought back many long forgotten and buried memories. Among them was the memory of when she was taken into intensive care right after her first battle with a monster, a demon cobra that had somehow found it's way into her school. He remembered how close he had almost came too late to save her from it's deadly fangs.

They remained silent until Amberlin walked past them and began to check if anything needed to be changed.

"She lost a lot of blood," She announced while checking her pulse. She looked at the tray next to her. "We treated her the best we could but we aren't exactly doctors." Her expression fell. "Which is why we should get her to a real one." She finished, turning back to the rest. "Meta Knight?"

They looked at him, hopeful he would agree and he did. "Her life is more important to us than anything else." He nodded. The others smiled in relief.

"Then it's decided." Kayla smiled sadly, just as Nia walked in. "We'll move out as soon as possible." Nia looked at her questioningly. "Don't worry I'll fill you in later." She whispered to the child as they began to exit.

"So... we're just going to let all of that fighting and hard work go for nothing?" A voice called from behind them. They froze, too stunned to turn around. All except Meta Knight, who had already turned to meet her.

"Jessica." He breathed in amazement.

* * *

I looked at the florescent lights above, too angry to look at him directly. I wasn't going to let everything go to waste that easily.

"Your a fool if you think my life is more valuable than the well being of the universe." I could sense his shock at my words but I didn't care. "I'm not going." I uttered coldly. A severe pain in my stomach acted up in protest of my decision but I didn't regret it.

"But you need help an-"

"No." I interrupted Frederik. He tried to argue again when Kayla came up from behind and placed a calming hand on his good shoulder.

"Come on, we should let these two talk before we do anything." She advised, practically dragging him out of the room along with the others until only Meta Knight remained. I heard him move from the doorway to a nearby stool.

"Jessica, you have to-"

"No need," I tilled my head to look at him. "The wound stopped bleeding a while ago." He looked at me in confusion. "I know your a knight, a person who is suppose to protect all he can, but putting the life of such an insignificant human above all others is a mistake in my book. While your busy looking for a doctor, hundreds are dying." He took that into silent deliberation, trying to think of an answer that could satisfy me.

"Then this is where we part." I raised an eyebrow at his answer.

"This again?" He looked at me. "I don't remember it working out for you the last time you tried to pull that one on me. I mean I'm already on the ship and I don't think I'm going to be stepping off any time soon." He fell silent.

"Look, I know you made a promise to yourself to make sure I don't get hurt because of your mistakes. And just like last time 'It's not your fault.' And besides, I nearly died back there with expert doctors present. Don't you think I would have been dead by now if my injuries really were that bad?" Silence.

"Meta Knight..." I placed a playful hand on his head. "You got to stop letting things like this get to you. Like I said before, none of anything that's happened is your fault." I was getting the feeling I was being ignored.

I winced in pain as I tried to sit up but stopped when a hand pushed me back down. I sighed and closed my eyes. "Fine you win. I'll rest for a while, besides it shouldn't be long until I'm back to full strength."

"You act as if you have merely sprained something rather than been dealt a fatal wound." He spoke, eyeing the red bandages around my stomach.

"I find it funny you've forgotten that ever since that monster incident back home, injuries that should normally take weeks to heal from only last a day or two for me."_ I still wasn't sure what the heck happened back then but at this point I don't need to know, though I kind of wish I did._

I smiled slightly when he finally gave me his "I give up" sigh and jumped off the stool. I didn't want to have to go through another hour long debate with him like last time.

"Get some rest." he called back exhaustively.

"Hey Meta Knight!" He turned around at his name. "Hm?" he answered. I flashed another playful smile.

"Sorry about the dent." I could feel him smile at that as he turned away and left. I looked back up at the ceiling.

_I'm glad I was at least able to ease some of your guilt... Since I'm partly to blame for most of it._

* * *

"Betrayal has failed us." spoke a voice from the shadows. Nightmare not bothering to turn around, simply continued to stare out the window behind his throne and to his nearly complete 'kingdom' below. He snorted at the news.

"Those humans are more of a nuisance than I thought. Managing to defeat one of my strongest beasts." He thought for a moment. "Especially that human girl. But no matter." He continued.

"Shall we send another monster?" He turned slightly, to look at his servant as he answered.

"No... For you see." Turning back to the window, smiling. "I've got a better idea."

* * *

Oh wow am I dumb, three days and I NOW just realize I forgot to make my note to my readers. Well I have good news and some bad news. Good news, I'm updating more frequently, bad news is that I'm slacking on my homework :/

Hope you guys enjoy the Episode and leave a review in the little box below. I'd love to hear what you guys think of my story; your lovey reviews give me the inspiration to continue writing even on my darkest day. See you all soon! Bye!

P.S: Character Bio's now available in my profile.


	12. Episode 11: Tainted Memories

Episode 12: Tainted Minds

_Whats happening?!_

"Stop it! What's gotten into all of you!?" I wailed, jumping to one side. Their swords hit the dirt I had once stood on moments ago. I stared at them in fear as I backed away. They recovered from their faulty attacks and charged towards me again. I broke into a run. "You guys! Please snap out of it!" I screamed.

I didn't get very far when I somehow tripped on my own feet, my eyes widened in horror as the group of armed warriors came closer. I quickly got to my knees, ready to stand when I heard someone's footsteps in front of me. I looked up.

"Meta Knight?" I asked in surprise. He didn't reply. "Oh god Meta Knight, you got to do something. Somethings wrong with the others!" I begged, getting to my feet. This time I looked up to see a sword beam just mere inches away. I gasped, falling again to escape the deadly attack. I stared into his eyes.

_Betrayal?_ I Thought in fright, remembering all the horrible things the demon had done to me and my comrades. _No, his eyes are still amber._ I glanced at his withdrawn blade. _What the hell is going on here! _

_"_STOP!" I yelled. He swung his blade down and then...

They all vanished. Like they were never there.

I was then surrounded in a pitch black mist, finding myself floating in complete nothingness. I glanced around. There was something about this place I didn't like. The whole place reeked of monster.

"_Come now child... Are you injured_?" My eyes flickered to the side, looking for the voice's owner. I was alone in the void. I backed up, not really knowing what from when I bumped into something. I turned around to see Frederik. He was glaring at me. I tilted my head slightly, looking behind him. The others where back a well.

"What's wrong with them? What's wrong with my friends?" I asked the voice. There was silence as they came closer, drawing their weapons.

"_They were never your friends... They are simply using you."_ I froze. _Impossible._

"Your wrong..." I whispered in disbelief. The force holding me up disappeared, dropping me into the awaiting darkness below. I screamed as I plummeted into the abyss. The voice called after me.

_"Soon, you will come to terms with the truth..."_

I sat up with a start, quickly looking around the dark room. I was alone. I placed a shaky hand on my forehead, staring down at my legs, trying to calm my rapid breathing. _A dream?_

I threw myself back, landing softly on my pillow, covering my eyes. I stayed like this, finally managing to relax after a while. Though the mysterious voice continued echoing in the back of my mind.

"_Soon, you will come to terms with the truth..."_

"The truth?" I whispered to myself. "What could it mean..."

This was about the third time I've been given that message, all by the same voice in similar dreams. I removed my arm from on top of my eyes and stared aimlessly at the ceiling. _I need answers._

I climbed out of my bed and quietly exited through the door. I walked steadily down the hall, not really sure of what to do when I found myself in front of Meta Knight's room. I eyed the door for a moment before turning away.

"No..." I murmured, walking down the unlit halls. "I shouldn't bother him with something as pitiful as a nightmare." I finished, stopping in front of another door.

It slid open, momentarily blinding me with the bright light that escaped from it. I squinted, shielding my eyes slightly as I entered the kitchen.

The room's walls were metallic just like the rest of the spaceship except for the marble flooring that set it apart from the rest. When we first stumbled upon it a few days ago, we were surprised to see many of the appliances were much like earth's, meaning our odds of starving to death were very slim for once.

I walked towards the cabinets, grabbing a large glass cup from the shelves, which were filled with expensive and luxurious dinner ware that had miraculously survived the entry into the planet's atmosphere. I opened the valve, wetting my lips as the cold water began to fill the glass.

_Step._

I turned off the faucet, turning around to see I wasn't alone in the room. I took a quick sip of the water as Natalie made her way towards the fridge. I flashed a small, tired smile at her thinking it would be returned, but instead received a cold stare. My smile fell, leaving me with a confused and hurt expression as I left.

"Hey Jessica." I heard Frederik say from up ahead, I didn't have to look up to see he was smiling. I quietly pushed by, too hurt to acknowledge his greeting. He stayed there, stunned by my reaction as he watched me disappear down the hall. I could feel his concern for me shoot up like a rocket but he didn't follow.

I sat down on my bed and drank the refreshing liquid, trying to keep my mind on off other matters. I placed the glass on the metal drawer beside my bed, watching the water droplets that had built up on the outside drip down. _What's going on_, I wondered, thinking of Natalie's cold attitude towards me when she and I are good friends... or at least were.

Lately, she and the others have been acting distant to me, making me wonder if the fight with Betrayal had affected them more than I had imagined. Even Meta Knight has been acting differently, but I could understand his motives behind it, knowing that every time he sees me, the buried guilt within him resurfaces.

Only Frederik and Nia, out of everyone, has kept their feelings towards me the same as before, constantly following me around if I were to need help. Though I made them stop yesterday, seeing as all my wounds fully healed two days after the incident. Or at least that's what they thought. I could still feel the pain of the wound as if it were fresh if I allow my mind wonder. All that remained of the hole in my stomach was now a large painful cut. I sighed.

Looking at the moon, I could see that it was close to 2 AM. I made a small glance at my bed, thinking I should try sleeping again when I remembered the nightmare. I looked away deciding to wait out the night no matter the cost. I just didn't want to relive that awful dream.

"I guess I'll go for a walk... at least till they wake up." I said to myself. Though the others were being mean, I still didn't want to make things worse between us. The worse thing you could do is wake someone up at two in the morning. I left my room again.

I walked down the now familiar halls for what seemed like hours. I slowed my pace when a dim light and voices came from further down the path. I stopped in front of the door that lead into the main lounge, the door had somehow become jammed and was slightly open.

The lounge was exactly as it sounded, a place for people to walk into and relax. It had many large and comfortable sofas, with a small bar and TV. Though, we had to hide all the alcohol in the bar, seeing as none of us drinks and because we feared Nia would accidentally ingest the substance. And the TV... Well we aren't exactly cable people, even Amberlin hasn't figured out how to fix it yet.

The male and female voices inside were arguing.

"I don't like her."

"You need to calm down, and besides, you don't like _anyone."_

"I mean for real, I don't want her around anymore."

"Why?"

"I just don't."

"She's got as much of a right to stay as you, we can't just kick her out of the team like that."

"So your telling me you don't feel the same?" There was silence.

"That's what I thought."

The sound of opening doors and footsteps soon shut them up, I listened as the footsteps were followed by the sound of a moving chair. I looked through the jammed door's opening and peeked inside.

Amberlin and Hardwin were standing nervously in silence in the center of the room, almost hiding the fact they had been arguing from someone. They were both staring to the side of the room, to where the now empty bar was. I moved a bit, fixing my view to see who is was.

Sitting on top of a stool, now polishing his sword, was Meta Knight.

_Well this is getting interesting..._

Hardwin stood there, staring at the knight as if he were to burst if he didn't say what he wanted. Amberlin glanced at the two in concern, already guessing the outcome.

"Meta Knight-" Hardwin began, grabbing his attention from Galaxia. Amberlin moved in at once and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hardwin." She warned. He continued, shrugging her off and stepped closer to him.

"Meta Knight. We need to take about Jessica." He nearly screamed. The knight quickly sheathed his golden sword and turned around, wrapping himself in his cape.

"What about Jessica?" He waited for his response.

"She needs to go." _What?_

Meta Knight remained silent, not really knowing how to respond. "Why?" Was all he could manage.

"How about because we don't like her anymore."

"And that she's become a danger to us all."

I stiffened as Natalie and Kayla walked in from a second set of doors that led into the lounge. They had hear a majority of the conversation from the hallway.

"She don't deserve to be here anymore." Hardwin hissed, the others silently agreed. From his stool, he looked at everyone of their faces and expressions. They all held hatred and anger, except for Amberlin who seemed conflicted with the idea.

"Do you all feel the same way?" He asked, accessing the situation. They went silent again, their attitude was all the answer he needed. He exhaled loudly and nodded. "I understand... She _has_ become overconfident and reckless recently."

My heart stopped. It felt as if the world around me had crumbled. Like someone had come up from behind and thrust a dagger through my still beating heart. I walked away from the door unseen, not wanting to hear more. I didn't want to hear how much more they hated me or how annoying I was to them. Those few sentences was all I needed to know.

I stepped into my room, closing the door behind me. I looked blankly at it, not knowing what to make of everything I had bared witness to.

"_She's become a danger..."_

_"We don't like her anymore..."_

_"She needs to go..."_

_"She has become overconfident and reckless..."_

"'Soon, you will come to terms with the truth...'" I whispered in disbelief. "So this it, this is the hard truth I've been looking for." I smiled sadly in despair. _I've outlived my usefulness to them..._ "I risked everything for them and this is how they repay me..."

_Crash!_

The glass shattered into a hundred separate pieces, scattering onto the floor like rain. What ever water that remained within the glass now glistened on the floor in front of me. I turned away from the mess, grabbing my cloak from a hook on the wall. It fluttered behind me as I walked out the room for the third and last time.

_If they want me gone that bad, then I'll happily grant their wish!_

* * *

"She _has _become overconfident and reckless recently..." The knight spoke, nodding in agreement to the humans in front of him.

He stood on top of a stool in what was used in the empty bar behind him, leaving the white rag he was using to clean Galaxia exposed on the counter. In the corner of the room, a small pink haired girl sat on a chair, listening to the conversation they should have kept secret.

She didn't want them to be talking so badly about one of their own, especially one she looked up to like a sister. Doing so to her was like a sin, a cruel deed she could would never bring herself to do one day. All she wanted was for them to stop.

While the knight paused, she looked away, towards the opposite side of the room. Hoping to distract herself from their talk. She nearly froze, silently gasping when she saw the jammed door across from her. From behind the door, through the small opening it left, she could make out a figure lurking inside the dark hall. A figure who seemed to flinch at the knight's words. A figure she knew all too well. _She heard..._, she thought in dismay.

She watched as the figure, unaware she had been spotted by the girl, disappear into the halls again. She wanted so badly to tell the mean people in the room to be quite and run after her friend, to say everything the others said was a lie. But she couldn't, for she, herself, could bring herself to lie.

She sat there, muted, waiting to them to finish talking.

"But..." the knight continued after a long pause."That is no excuse to turn your back on your friends or allies alike." he snapped at them. The humans were taken aback by his new answer.

"If I remember correctly, you all seemed to have great respect for Jessica after... the incident," he choked out the word. "And now act as if she were all the evil the world has to offer. What changed?" he asked.

The humans present in the room gazed at each other in shame almost, before one finally answered.

"That was before we began remembering all the negative she's done." Natalie answered, nervous at her own words.

"Such as?" He narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong. One couldn't, and shouldn't, be able to switch from adoration to hate towards a person over night. It wasn't natural.

"The time she purposely tripped Nia at the camp." Hardwin growled angrily.

"She insults me whenever she gets the chance." Kayla added.

"Or the time she tried to push me off the cliff in the caves we were in." Natalie shuddered.

"Wait, I thought that was me she did that to." Amberlin suddenly become serious, suspicious of foul play. Natalie looked at her in bewilderment.

"She couldn't have done it to both of you, or you both wouldn't be here." Kayla argued.

"As I suspected." The humans turned away from each other, returning their attention to Meta Knight. Something was amiss. "It would appear these 'memories' are nothing more than reoccurring nightmares, sent to distort your actual memories of the past." His eyes grew dark green and then back to amber.

"It seems that Nightmare himself is trying to turn us against one another, but did not count on us realizing so soon." He took a moment to analyze the information further. "What concerns me most is that he is specifically targeting Jessica in these memories." The humans looked to him in shock, guilt taking the place of the hate they so wrongful felt. They had played right into his hands.

"But why?" Amberlin interrupted, scowling.

"I fear she may have caught his interest during our battle with Betrayal." He then turned away and jumped to the door. "I also fear that he might be trying to manipulate her as well, which is why we must warn her." He called, hurrying away with the others close behind.

Nia remained in the room alone, her expression fallen and void of it childish happiness. "They don't know she saw." She said to herself quietly. Her face pointed towards the floor. They didn't know that they hurt her. That they had destroyed her minutes ago.

She looked up from the ground, her sweet blue eyes now hard and serious. She ran out the door as fast as her little legs could carry her. She was going to help make things right between all of them no matter what. She wasn't going to let her new family fall apart.

* * *

"Troublesome knight, to have uncovered my plan so quickly." He muttered to himself, raising a skeleton like hand to his chin. "And right when I was beginning to have fun..." He dismissed the dark cloud of energy before him, destroying the image it had showed. He _Tsk_-ed loudly.

"You might have caught me Meta Knight, but you have yet to beat me. I still have _one_ human under my influence." He fell silent for a moment. He looked aimlessly in front of him "Send in a monster, I want to see how they fare when separated from one another."

"Yes master." Came a low response as his servant re and disappeared within the darkness. Nightmare smiled to himself.

"Had you realized sooner, you might have stomped me but now it's my turn to move."

_And I plan to make it the last move of the game..._

* * *

Nightmare you wicked man! Poor Jessica, you can only imagine her pain, having the person you look up to the most agree with those against you. Will Meta Knight in the others stop Jessica from leaving, or will Nightmares plan succeed. And what does he have plan for everyone else? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out.

This has indeed become the hardest chapter for me to write. It's hard to say something negative about someone when they've done nothing but good in the past. Plus I had to find something for Meta Knight to say, and I just couldn't imagine him saying something very mean after what happened with Betrayal, especially something Jessica would believe.

O_O Now if you excuse me, I've got to go fix my heart and restart my brain. Review down in the box below and tell me how I did, I would love to hear your opinion! BYE!


	13. Episode 13: Shadows Within

Episode 13: Shadows Within

**A/N** : Oh god! Please don't kill me! I didn't think I would end up putting off this episode for so long. I didn't think my English summer assignment would take that long... Maybe I should stop with the excuses, huh?

Anyways, thank you guys so much for reviewing, you beautiful people give me the strength to continue writing, even on my darkest days. You've helped me so much lately. *Starts shedding tears of joy*

Oh and this has been long overdue, but I guess it's better late than never.

**Wolf girl811**: Thanks for being one of the first reviewers I've ever had. You've been loyal to this series since the beginning and for that I thank you! :3 oh and yes, he is very hug-able, and you can expect him to glumped by Nia again in the near future. She may have respect for his personal space now but none can escape their fate for long. :D

**Cloey22**: Glad you loved this story and I see I'm not the only one who shares that opinion. You don't know how much your review helped me when I was already working on the 8th episode. Your words really helped me back then. :D

**Shannon-ninja-of-animals**: Glad to hear it. It took me a long time to try and figure out how to get Dark Meta Knight in this story when an idea suddenly came to me. Though that meany of a knight wouldn't sign his contract unless he got a major role in one of the episodes... He really is a jerk sometimes that Dark Meta Knight but a least we struck a deal. =_='

**greenone15**: :D well then you wait is over 'cause the new episode is officially out! :3 You know your one of my favorite Authors so it's an honor to see you here.

**Ema t tiger**: You don't know how much your review moved me. Honestly I don't know what to say. *sniff* And yes, you can expect to see more of my stories in the future. I just have to make sure I know what I'm doing when I write them.

**starpower9000**: XD I knew someone was going to say that eventually. Anyways I'm happy you liked my story,and just like greenone15, I'm honored that you reviewed. I love your story you know, and I can't wait for the when you next update and don't worry I _will_ be continuing no matter what, even if I get banned from my laptop I'll find a way (though I seriously hope that doesn't happen).

I feel so loved now 3. Anyways, without further ado, episode 13... Oh and sorry if it's a little short.

* * *

"Frederik. What happened?" Kayla asked, pressing her lips into a hard line.

"I don't know. She seemed sad about something last time I saw, so I thought maybe I could share a drink with her. Maybe find out whats wrong." He motioned to a cup on the dresser. "When I came in, this is what I found." He replied blankly, staring at the floor. Glass fragments with small traces of water littered the room.

He felt a light pressure on shoulder and turned to find Natalie smiling warily at him. "By the way Frederik, why were you _in_ her room in the first place?" she asked, playfully narrowing her eyes. He flinched in surprise, not really knowing how to answer.

His face slightly flushing in surprise. "Again, I just wanted to talk to her." he growled, relived no one could see his face.

"Oh? Really?" she chirped, pestering him further.

"That's enough Natalie." Amberlin looked up from where she knelt, angry at the two for disturbing their investigation with their racket. Meta Knight, also trying to keep to his work, sighed in annoyance, managing to calm himself before they could notice his red eyes. It was bad enough they had been foolish enough to fall for Nightmare's tricks but now they had to make things worse by fighting among themselves.

"You don't think we were really that horrible to her, right?" Natalie suddenly asked within earshot of the knight as he walked back into the hallway. He paused for a moment, considering something before shaking his head.

"No, she's not one to take another's words to heart. She judges people by action and action alone." He assured her. A spark of doubt flared within him, taking him by surprise. _One can only take so much..._ "I doubt words could push her towards such extremes." he quickly added, pushing away the thought.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Frederik asked in confusion, obviously lost. Everyone looked at him in surprise when they remembered he was the only one among them who had not been present when Meta Knight became aware of Nightmare's new scheme. Kayla shot him an apologetic glance.

"We'll explain everything later, but right now we have to find Jessica, she might be in trouble." His shoulders fell in frustration but nodded. He knew she was right.

"I still don't understand why she would leave. Meta Knight's right, Jessica would never leave over something so small as an insult let alone a comment. What could have happened?" Amberlin said aloud, forgetting the others in the room.

"She heard." Startled by the voice, they all spun around. A pink haired child stood at the end of the hall. Her now dull eyes staring directly at them.

"She left... Because she heard everything..."

* * *

_I jumped back, narrowly dodging the blade as it almost touched my chest. His eyes flashed, completely vanishing from my sights as I tried to regain my balance. Panicking I whirled around frantically, hoping to spot of him._

_Suddenly the world was flipped upside down as I was thrown into the air. I spun in midair, trying to land on my feet and regain my balance when I was kicked from behind. I face planted onto the floor, wheezing in pain. My muscles cried as I strained to pick myself up again. I had to get back up before-_

_"Never take your eyes of your opponent " He chided, holding the sword to my throat. I held my breath in disbelief. He stared at me a moment longer before lowering the sword. "That is all for today." he continued, tossing his weapon aside as he turned away._

_"I can still fight!" I spat, getting to my feet. "Don't count me out just-"_

_"Enough." He growled, his startling red eyes sending shivers down my spine. "I do not like to repeat myself." We made eye contact._

_"But-"_

_"Do I make myself clear, Jessica?" I shivered at the hostility in his tone._

_"Yes, Meta Knight." I whispered in defeat, gripping my wooden sword in anger as he left. I heard the slow closing of a door from down the hall, confirming the end of today's lesson. I glared at the discarded practice weapon on the ground in front of me before throwing my own weapon across the room in frustration._

* * *

The sound of rustling leaves echoed throughout the forest. The cool night breeze sending them spiraling down onto the earth below, coating the brown forest floor in a dark green. The light of the pale moon shined brightly overhead, illuminating the darkness beneath the branches.

I stood in the middle of that light, watching the shadows dance along the wind. Watching as they surrounded me before finally landing at my feet. I smiled at the scene, finding it ironic. While my heart laid in tatters, everything around me knew peace. I found it unfair, yet, I found it hard to complain. It wasn't my right.

_An honorable warrior from another universe... A lowly human girl... A story of two who should have never met..._

" I really am a fool aren't I? To think things could end differently." I murmured, catching a leaf in the palm of my hand. "To put so much trust in a stranger, even if you think you may know them... " I contemplated it for second before allowing it fall from my fingers. "Maybe this is punishment for my arrogance." I took a step out of the light. "I've outlived my welcome here..."

Sighing, I continued to walk further into the undergrowth, the distance between me and the people who caused my pain growing with every stride.

_Pitiful... A human girl who wanted to play hero, jumps head first into a war she can't fight. Promising things she can't do. In the end, no matter how hard she tries, they simply all break, leaving no one to blame but herself._

_Who was I to make those promises in the first place? Who was I to think I could actually make a difference? That I could literally save the world. Nothing more that false hopes. A dream and nothing more. A dream created to drive away the boredom of the average day... A dream to give my life meaning... And for a second, I actually thought it was true._

_Maybe I should just disappear..._

"_Will you really abandon your comrades?_"

"Who's there?" I called, scanning the surrounding trees for the voice. _Did I imagine it? _I shook my head, _No, I know what I heard!_ I told myself.

"Who's there?!" I called again. I could hear my heartbeat within the eerie silence. I could also hear the quick exhales and inhales from my breathing as I waited for a reply.

"_A friend."_

* * *

Well it wasn't as long as my other episodes but its something until I can get back to my old updating schedule. Getting back to school really put my hole in my plans but I'll be fine after a while. I just need to adjust again.

Okay, well hope you enjoyed the episode and feel free to review in the little box below. I'd love to hear how I'm doing so far. Hopefully it won't be a month before we see each other again. Bye!

P.S.: I might be able to get the old skits up and running again in a few chapters but I don't know whether you guys would like that or not so I'll leave it up to you guys to decide. The poll can be found on my profile page if anyone is interested.


	14. Episode 14: An Old Foe

Episode 14: An Old Foe

**A/N: **After waiting two weeks I finally manged to scrap together enough time for me to finish the chapter. I am so, so, SO sorry for the long wait, I didn't think school would cut that much into my writing time but oh well, what can you do?

**Cloey22:** Thank you so much for those kind words Cloey, to be honest I had ever expected someone to say that about my story or me. *sniff* You don't know how happy your reviews make me feel. And as thank you I promise to uphold the quality of my story as time goes on, I shall not fail you!

**shadow kirby 56:** Your wish is my command. *bows* As promised, the skits will return but not for a chapter or two though, I still have to clean up the studio after hurricane Jessica trashed it. *Scratches head* Heheheh... sorry.

**greenone15:** *Smiles brightly* Thank you for that beautiful review greenone15, and again it is an honor to have you here and I'm glad you feel that way, though I certainly hope it doesn't take me _that _long to update.*chuckles* But enough about me. I'm so excited for your next update, your last chapter was amazing, and I can tell it's only going to get better from here on out. Keep on writing!

**Ema t tiger: **:D thanks for the compliment and as for your question the answer is yes, Jessica will be put in Dreamland after a while. And I can assure you her adventures on Popstar will be just as epic as the ones on Earth so far. Oh and before I forget, congrats on your first story, just a few chapters and already I'm hooked. Keep it up!

**Hollydoor: **And it will only continue to get better, I promise you that. *Grins excitedly*

Well, that's it for the shout outs I guess so now back to the story. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Episode 14!

* * *

"_A friend."_

_A friend... _I smiled sadly, _Its been a while since I last heard that phrase. An empty word. Nothing more than a meaningless cluster of letters, yet, here it was again._

"I'm afraid you are mistaken,but I have no friends. If your here to pity me, don't bother." I said, taking a step in opposite direction. "I do not want to be reminded of such matters." There are some things I would rather leave untouched, locked away within the deepest confines of my mind. Somethings I hoped not to unearth again than risk destroying myself trying to fix the damage done by others. There are some hearts that can not be mended, no matter how hard one tries. One can only wait for the pain to slowly fade way, if it ever does.

_"I can sense a great sorrow buried deep within your heart, a lurking darkness treating to consume you. I can see the regret you hide from the world and the pain you shoulder alone. Your heart is no secret to me child, why run."_ A drop of perspiration rolled down my temple as I struggled within, trying to move my legs that suddenly became unresponsive. I could feel my skin crawl as it spoke.

_"You are a warrior are you not so why do you run?" _I swallowed before answering.

"I don't see a reason in staying where you're not wanted. I completed my obligations long ago and if I'm no longer needed, then I will not fight against that reality. If my disappearance is greatly desired then who am I to rob people of that pleasure." I was slightly stunned by the words that seemed to erupt from my mouth. They were my own and yet, weren't. They bothered me in a way I never thought could be possible.

_"Will you truly grant that wish? Will you really__ abandon your comrades? Leave them to their fates, no matter what future may have in store for them?"_

"Yes."

There was a brief pause as I awaited a response. I turned slightly, pointing my ear in the direction of the voice. I could feel my uneasiness grow when my eyes, again, failed to find the speaker.

"_Then perhaps you are not the one I seek_." My eyes narrowed in surprise. _Seek?_

"Tell me, why are you here. What business do you have with the one search for? Why is it that you seek them?" My heart began to thunder in anticipation.

_"I see you suspect of my intentions, a wise decision on your part, though I will not burden you with matters that do not concern you. But if you insist on the matter, I will not stop you."_

_"What is it that you wish to know?"_

* * *

"We must look for her at once." The knight announced to the still grieving crowd. A small girl sat with her back to the wall, watching the crowd. They did not seem to hear the star warrior's instructions. She waited a while longer before standing up, patting her red skirt clean. Her deep blue eyes no longer blank in sadness, instead, they burned with determination.

She stared at them for a moment before turning to Meta Knight who lingered at the door. He did not look at them. His voice had been strong and immutable when he spoke but deep inside his emotions were still fighting for superiority. And now, his guilt was winning.

_Just how much do I plan on making her suffer before we wake up from this infernal nightmare?_

"Mety..." She whispered, getting him to lift his gaze. He said nothing, returning her stare before the grip on his cape tightened. Her expression fell into a frown as he exited out of the room.

"Nia." She looked up to see Kayla and the others staring directly at her. She tilted her head questioningly at them.

"If we find Jessica, tell her we're sorry. She'll actually listen if you're the one who says it." She said, scratching the back of her head. "Think you can manage that?" She smiled.

"Hmm!" she sounded in agreement, bringing her tiny fists together in front of her. She wasn't going to let anything stop her from bringing Jessica back home.

"Alright then guys, let's go bring her back!" Frederik yelled energetically as he and the others ran into the hall failing to notice they had left poor Nia all alone in the dimly lit space. Nia watched as they left without her, dumbfounded and shocked at their sudden devotion. Her frown deepened, sighing in disbelief. She wasn't looking forward to torturing her poor feet any further.

She had only taken a step when she was suddenly lifted into the air. She cried out in surprise, she began flail her arms in every direction, not knowing who her attacker was as she clung to the only solid object she could find. She peeked from beneath her lashes when she finally stopped moving only to be met with a large smile.

"Don't think we'd forget about you." The man chuckled to the little girl clinging to his back. "Now hold on tight, we have hurry if we don't want to get left behind." Soon they were racing down the corridors, already gaining on the group ahead of them. Her lips parted into a wide grin. Her eyes gleaming in amusement, momentarily allowing herself to forget the severity of the situation they were in.

Sometimes, even a meany like Hardwin could have his moments.

* * *

He surveyed the land in front of him as he waited patiently outside of the ship. He kept his gaze evenly on the ground, already identifying the route Jessica had taken.

The moon still towered high above the land, shinning brightly over Earth's inhabitants in what seemed like an eternal night. Though by his calculations he could tell that within four hours exactly, the sun would soon be seen rising from the east, bringing an end to the darkness governing over the land. He sighed. His patience was starting to run thin.

As a star warrior he was taught to place the safety of others before his own, to protect those who did not hold the power to defend themselves. He was taught never to involve innocents in their affairs, to not endanger others by dragging them into battles they did not pertain to. They were two rules he had sworn never to break or face the horrible consequences, the catastrophe, that would follow if he did, but here he was. He had shattered the very rules he had lived by his entire life.

Sure he had done so before, but only when left with no alternative, no escape. Here, it was different. Here he had foolishly accepted the help of a bystander, not only placing her but her family in unnecessary danger. And even when he was given the chance to make things right, to make the right decision, he had failed again, allowing her to follow in his footsteps, straight into the pits of hell know as war. He was the cause of all their misery, and for that he hated himself. A fine warrior he turned out to be.

His thoughts were then interrupted when the sound of feet against metal resonated from behind him. He turned, finding a group of humans standing in front of him. They awaited patently for their next set of orders.

"So... where do we go now?" Frederik asked nervously, breaking the silence. He studied the boy for a moment before walking off in the direction he was facing before. He looked at the knight in confusion before following.

"If we hurry, we may find her before sunrise."

Soon the soft earth under their feet was replaced with rocky terrain as they traveled through a ravine just north of the craft. The large gorge nestled deep within the mountains severed as the entrance to the valley where the ship was now located. Thanks to this Meta Knight was able to predict all possible routes Jessica could have created to flee, though they wouldn't know which until they reached the end-

"Meta Knight what's wrong?" Amberlin tensed in worry as the knight came to an abrupt stop. He didn't reply, expanding his senses to the land around him. Something wasn't right.

"Something's coming." He answered quickly, bringing his hand to Galaxia's hilt. The rest tried to mimic him, grasping for their weapons when most of them let out a gasp in horror. To their shock only Frederik and Kayla had remembered to bring their swords.

Soon rock and debris began to fall around them as an ear-splitting roar sliced through the air. The humans shielded their ears as well as their eyes while Meta Knight squinted through the dust keeping his eyes on the blurred figure. When the dust cleared, he could clearly make out the shape of a large creature in the distance, larger than any monster they had faced before. He could feel his blood boil as he recognized the demon.

"No... it can't..." He heard Nia whimper from behind. The pink haired child stood in-between the adolescent humans, her body shuddering terribly as her bright blue eyes widened in terror. She knew enough about Dreamland to know exactly what, or who, they were up against.

"What's going on. I thought Kirby beat that thing!" Natalie wailed, cradling the child protectively in her arms. He could hear the fear in her voice.

"He did." He said softly, glaring at the monster in front of them. It was larger than it had been in the past. He had bared witness to it's defeat at the hands of Kirby long ago. He had seen it explode before his very eyes after the last sword beam had been cast. How could anything survive such a fate? How? _  
_

"But this one is bigger than the one you fought before. And the one you fought died, right?" Amberlin asked, stepping away from the creature blocking their path. Sweat was already starting to form on her forehead as she continued to piece together the puzzle. "You don't think."

"The one we fought was nothing more than a fake." He answered gravely.

The demon stood on its hind legs, towering over the canyon walls. Its bright orange eyes studying the groups reactions, curling its pink mouth into a smirk. Its two large scythes dug deeply into the ground, eager to spill the blood of its enemies. Familiar purple fur glistening in the moonlight.

"The real 'Great Beast' of Nightmare Enterprises. The true Kirisakin."

* * *

Ah crap, Kirisakin's back, and no not the small weakling Kirby defeated in Dreamland but the mother of all Kirisakin, literally. How will Meta Knight and the others survive the encounter and just who is the voice that continues to talk to Jessica in the background? I can't be the only one asking these things right? Until next time, Vanessa out!


	15. Episode 15: Decisions

**Episode 15: Decisions**

**A/N**: Finally back after weeks of piled up school work and finally managed to get this chapter done in like what, a month? I really need to prioritize my time better huh?

* * *

The demon glared at them as memories of the past slowly began resurfacing in its mind. Two silver claws dug deep into the hard earth at the memory of blood mixed with the moisture of the freezing shadows that wrapped around the dimly lit cave it once called home. Its lips curved up, revealing its canines in a joyous, wicked, smile as it recalled a familiar scene from long ago.

Natalie, gazing upon the beast from a distance held a shivering child closer, spotting the blood lust that flashed within the monster's eyes. Their hearts pounded loudly within their chests, moving rapidly in absolute fear. Small uncontrollable tears rolled down the frighten child's cheeks, unable to sob, incapable of making a sound.

Behind him, Meta Knight became aware of two different sets of footsteps growing closer as they moved, flanking him from both sides when they finally came to a stop. Immediately he could tell it was Kayla and Frederik who had come to offer their assistance. Both held their unsheathed weapon at the ready.

"Frederik, Kayla, return to the others at once. This is a battle I must fight alone. I do not wish for any harm to befall the two of you." They stared at him in disbelief.

"But!-" Frederik began object to only to be silenced by Kayla's scorching glare. He had forgotten he was not alone, he was not the only one against the thought of fleeing but the knight did not give them much choice. He closed his eyes for a second before giving him a weak nod. He turned to walk away when he stopped. He shot a quick glance in Kayla's direction when he discovered she had not followed but the girl did not notice. Her attention was elsewhere.

Her eyes were wide to the point that her eyes were in danger of falling out, her pupils shaking uncontrollably from the strain. She took a step back, nearly tripping over her own feet, a sudden wave of panic surged through her, causing her grip her sword painfully in her right hand as she continued to look into the distance.

Two amber orbs noticed the girl's petrified state and followed her gaze towards the demon's figure, soon finding the source of her shock. Snagged between the monster's claws was a dark grey fabric. It was torn and stained with large splotches of red covering every inch of it; the dim light from the moon befalling it emphasizing the rips, giving off the illusion of age. Nonetheless, even in its pitiful state, it was still easily recognizable.

The sight of it in its now desolated state made the knight flinch in utter disgust. Already the anger he had suppressed deep within was threatening to break free. Beside him, Galaxia had began to shake from the force of his iron grip as the loud clinking of armor broke the eerie silence that engulfed the canyon in which they stood.

A fight between his hatred and self-control ensued; a constant array of red continually enveloping the yellow in his eyes as time drew on.

_NO! I must remain calm, I can not afford to lose myself now. Not here. I mustn't allow my anger to blind me._ He took a slight step forward._ I can not risk endangering the others._

A large curved blade shot forth, shattering the ground the knight stood on moments ago forcing him to leap quickly into the air. The beast growled in anger, tearing its arm out from the broken rock. A streak of grey rushed towards his left flank soon making him step back in reflex. His eyes flickered to his right as he swiftly flattened himself onto the ground when a second blade sweeped past him from overhead. He rolled on his side for another heartbeat, getting back to his feet before narrowly dodging another streak of grey.

Seconds later Meta Knight found himself in a deadlock after blocking a forth attack. His sacred yellow blade pressed hard against the demons arm as the two tried to make the other lose their balance. Making no progress he pulled away, allowing the scythe to brush past, uprooting all in its path. Not a scratch nor hint of exhaustion registering in the knight as he stepped away from his opponent.

"You will pay, Kirisakin, for all the lives you have taken for you own cruel pleasure."he hissed, "As a Star Warrior, I swear on my honor to avenge the countless comrades you dared slaughter before my eyes!" He dashed forward.

Immediately, the beast tried to knock Meta Knight off his balance, slashing at him multiple times from above. The knight leaped onto its unprotected arm, pushing off towards his target the moment his feet touched the chaste steel.

Fear billowed within demon as it realized the knight's intentions and began to frail in an attempt to knock off its attacker. It clawed at its own arm, uncaring of the damage it would inflict on itself in desperation, every swipe sending sparks into the air just feet behind from knight; the enemy drawing nearer with each passing second.

It had made the grave mistake of leaving its neck unprotected and exposed.

* * *

A heavy reality dawned on me, shattering the painted illusion of the world I had once believed to be true. I had always believed in the impossible, always allowed my mind to roam freely among the clouds, seeking new ways to escape my boring life. I had always seen the world as would a child, overlooking the dangers and the flaws hidden behind its subtle exterior. Never questioning its mechanics in fear that one day it would all change in an instant. A simple world, one that I felt familiar in, one that I felt like I knew and thought I belonged in, gone, destroyed by the cold truth that had all this time chipped away at it until all was clear.

I stared unknowingly at the ground, unable to think as I allowed the newly acquired information ferment within my still numbed brain. I could feel myself shake from the shock and impact of the words that had just entered my ears only moments ago. It was a full minute before I became aware of my surrounding again.

_"Have you reached a decision, Jessica?" _A voice spoke.

I continued to look down, momentarily ignoring the question. _Why?_ I thought, returning to my previous thoughts. _Why was this so hard to believe?_

"Yes." I answered tensely, unsure whether I should continue. A large pressure pressed against my chest from the inside, suffocating me as it slowly crushed my very soul with its weight.

_"What have you decided?"_

I could feel its unseen eyes bore into my being, as if trying to force a response from me. _Will I really do this?_ I lifted my gaze examining the small luminous sphere floating before me.

"I-" I was cut short when a loud blast shattered the silence of the night.

I whirled around in surprise, a small shiver traveling through my body in reaction to the sudden explosion in the distance. From afar I could see a funnel of smoke arise from the west. A large tremor then found its way to our location, exhibiting the true strength of the blast. I watched in awe, waiting for someone, anyone, to inform me of the events occurring elsewhere when I noticed something that made the blood in veins run cold. The direction of the smoke.

_The ship!_ My mind cried in fright. Without my knowledge my legs began to inch towards the scene until I found myself sprinting through the thick undergrowth beneath the trees. My heart quickened in pace as I neared the place.

_What is this?_ I asked in dread as a horrible presence began to fill the air around me. I shuddered at the ghastly sensation when I felt just how familiar it was. I picked up speed.

_No, its not him. This energy... its darker than the one I felt that day._ I could feel my insides twist and turn as the sensation grew stronger. _Who, WHO!_ I screamed. Just then a _swishing_ sound from up ahead caught my attention.

I ducked just in time as a colossal blade came crashing by, toppling over all the trees surrounding me. Dazed, I slowly got back to my feet and ran to the ledge of the ravine in front of me. Below I could make out a small blue figure fighting ape like demon as ran up its arm. The ape slashed at it, trying to shake it off as the blue silhouette took no notice of its feeble attempts.

At that instant my anxiety began to subside as my heart regain it normal beat. I continued to watch from my perch.

_Why did I come back, _I asked myself sadly, _Was I foolish to think they'd be in any real danger?_ I turned away taking one last glimpse of the battle. _What harm could befall them with Meta Knight protecting them?_ I asked when I was responded with a the sound of clashing metals.

My heart sank as the painfully loud sound echoed off the walls, behind me came the sound of breaking rock. My eyes widened in horror.

A golden blade stuck out from the stone behind me, embedded deep within the rock. Further behind I could make out the shape of blue creature flying through the air as his cape fluttered helplessly behind him; the arm which had struck him moving ever so slowly away, like time itself had come to a stop.

_No..._ I cried weakly as I brought my hands to my mouth. I watched in disbelief as the knight landed heavily on his back, mere feet from the group of humans that had also witnessed the devastating blow. _How... how could he have lost?_

On the other side of the ravine stood the ape, smirking in glee at the defeat of its opponent as it steadily lifted its arms. It took its time to analyze each and every one of the human's expressions before finally bringing them down. The earth shuddered again, nearly making the wall on which I stood collapse from the force, the movement creating a large shock wave in the ground itself, destroying all in its path. Screams of pain and anguish erupted from the canyon below, biting deep into my heart.

I covered my ears, desperate to block out the screams as I fell to my knees. The unbearable pain in my chest beginning to overwhelm me as tears began to brim in my eyes. _How could this have happened?_

_"What will you do?"_ I inhaled sharply at the sound of its voice, blinking back tears.

_"Will you stand by idly as your comrades are slathered? Or will you fight along side them. Them, the ones you claimed to have betrayed your trust."_

My attention shifted back to the ape as it took a step forward, it weight causing the earth to shake once more. _Fight?_ I asked. My eyes falling at its large blades glistening in the moonlight. The shear size of them striking fear into my mind.

_"Choose now child!" _The voice screamed again as it drew closer. All feeling in my body now suddenly forsaking me as I clung desperately to whatever warmth remained as things became unnaturally cold. A sorrowful tear rolled down my chin, my jaw tightening at the thought.

* * *

Things are looking grim for the group aren't they? And what could have happened, why did Meta Knight lose? And will Jessica be able to pull herself back together before her friends meet their demise?

Also I owe this chapter to Ema t tiger who helped keep my on task when I started lacking off again :P

Oh well see you guys later and don't be shy to review in the box below, I'm curious to see what you guys think of this chapter and your guesses of what will happen in the next one.


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